Blackwood Castle
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: Fan request. Arthur is immortal and Ariadne is not. Don't worry, their not vampires. Because vampires SUCK! This is not a normal "Inception" story. It's more of romantic Gothic.
1. Chapter 1

** Fan request. Arthur is immortal and Ariadne is not. Don't worry, their not vampires. Because vampires SUCK! This is not a normal "Inception" story. It's more of romantic Gothic. If you like this kind of story, I would like to recommend "The Distant Hours" and "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton. **

**Blackwood Castle**

1.

~ Ariadne drove her mother's old Buick through an impressive stretch of woods. The gas station's owner had pointed out this neglected and disused road as the only way to arrive at Blackwood castle.

"And it's _Black_wood. Not _Back_woods." The grumpy older man told her.

"Oh, sorry." Ariadne said feeling she had insulted the man as she paid for her gas and something to drink. The grumpy man took her money and gave her a hard look.

"Now why do you want to go to the Devil's house?" He asked. "You seem like a nice enough girl."

"I have some questions for a Mr. Archibald Blunt." Ariadne told him in surprise.

"The old man?" The gas station owner asked in surprise. "I didn't know he was still alive."

"Well, I hope he is. There is no number for him, only this address. So I made the drive up here." She told him. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet for a moment. "Is it... I mean, is it really a _castle_?" She asked.

"Certainly is." The man said. "An American castle, but a castle sure enough. Built in 1740 by Lord Henry Blunt. The Blunt Family is the oldest in these parts."

"Why would you call it the Devil's house?" She asked worriedly.

The old man sighed.  
"There's something not right about that place. Ever since the night of the great storm in 1845." The station owner whispered. "After the night of the storm, the servants walked back to the village with strange tales. All of them refusing to go back to that place." He told her.

"What kind of tales?" Ariadne asked feeling a cold shiver run up her spine.

"That the Blunt Sons had become... cursed." The owner said reverently.

"Cursed?"

The Man nodded. His face serious and cold.  
"Something unnatural about them. The three sons were all first cousins. All around the same age when it happened." He said.

"What happened?" She asked totally entranced by his story.  
"There was a strange death of a young lady. A woman who the village believed was some sort of witch."

"Witch?" She repeated.

"No one ever found her body after the storm. The villagers came to the castle to find the old Lord and his Lady dead as well as the rest of the family. Only ones to survive it... the three sons. The castle sits on acres and acres of woods. Totally isolated. Didn't even get electricity till after the second world war. The descendants of the three sons still live there. Although you can't find a soul who has seen them. Archibald Blunt hasn't been seen in oh... 40 years now." He said giving her her change.

He suddenly grabbed her hand.  
"You just stay away from Blackwood Castle, Miss." He hissed at her.

~ In the warm spring sunshine, the old man's warning felt silly. A ghost story to tell around the fire. An interesting but harmless local legend. Blackwood Castle may be a castle, but it was in no way cursed.

She drove with her windows down and felt the delicious hint of wild flowers and grass growing all along the dirt road. Surely, with the smells of summer so close, a curse was just foolishness.

~ Her mother had passed away just a month ago. Ariadne had been an only child and with her father dead a few years before, she had the burden of the family estate to go through. Not that there was much to do, her mother had been sick with cancer for years and Ariadne was grateful they had planed ahead. Still, it was a lot of work for a young woman only 24 years old.

While going through her mother's old papers, she found her adoption records. Ariadne had come to live with her mother and father when she was six and always knew she was not their real child. But it had still been a shock to find the actual correspondence from a man named Archibald Blunt. His address listing Blackwood Castle.

She wondered if he was her real father or her grandfather. Maybe he had been a lawyer who had set up the adoption and knew her real parents.

A yearning inside her burned for the knowledge of where she had come from. Her mother had always refused to talk about it. Saying that it was a closed adoption and then becoming so upset, Ariadne decided never to ask again. Now that her mother was gone, there was no one left to give her the information she needed. Ariadne decided she wanted to know, and Mr. Archibald Blunt seemed to be the key.

Her mom's Buick hit an unseen bump and jerked her out of her thoughts for a moment. The road was in such disuse that she had to strain her eyes to see where it bended. It had once been a fine drive. Remnants of a well built road were still evident. Finally, the trees thinned out and she was afforded a view of the ocean.

She pulled over the car and walked a few yards to an imposing cliff-side. Letting the smell of salt air hit her. The ocean was breathtaking from this height and stretched forever. She made the mistake of looking down and had to grab hold of a tree to maintain her balance. It was an unforgiving drop to the bottom of the cliff. Ocean waves breaking heartlessly over the rocks. Carefully, She edged her way back off the cliff. Clutching tightly the tree like it was a person.

Her eyes picked up something then. A black structure surrounded by lush greenery and gardens.

"Oh my God." She whispered as she shielded her eyes from the sun.

It wasn't just a house, or mansion. It_ was_ a castle. It's stone facade was black and it stood an imposing five stories high. Complete with a tower. It looked like it belonged in mid-evil England and not on an American shoreline with a warm sun beating down on it.

She wondered why she had never heard of this place before. Such a castle, and it was a castle, would surely be on some tour, or at least a bed and breakfast. It was artfully close to the ocean and yet, it's main point of entry was a disused road.

~ It took her a long time to make the slow, careful drive to Blackwood Castle. She sighed deeply when she saw the imposing twenty foot high metal gates. They were built all around the castle to keep out unwanted visitors. Their heavy bars were delicately laced with Victorian style swirls and patterns. Rust and neglect was evidence of their years of service.

Ariadne stood by the gates for a long time. The sun beating down on her shoulders. She could hear comforting sounds of nature all around her as she looked at the gloomy castle. It was an odd feeling. Hearing insects and birds in the nearby grass and woods, all the while looking over this cold black place.

She pressed her forehead to the bars of the gate. Trying to gain a better look. The lawns were neatly tended, and peaking out of the back, was a rose garden in full bloom. Someone lived here still. Someone tended to the grounds and the castle itself. The building showed only the slightest wear over the past centuries.

She ran her hands over the bars as a strange memory came over her.

'_I've been here before._' She thought. He mind reeling back to another hot spring day where she had her face pressed to these bars in just this way. Heard insects and birds. Smelled the faint hint of the tea roses.  
'_I've been here before._' She thought again.

"Can I help you?" Came a voice from behind her.

Ariadne jumped and tried to calm her wildly beating heart.  
"Oh!" She explained as she saw a man emerge from the woods. He was his mid thirties with classic good looks. His blond hair and very fine blue eyes seemed kind as he approached her.

"I'm sorry." She said as if she had committed some type of crime. "I know this is probably trespassing. But I was hoping to speak with a Mr. Archibald Blunt. This is the only address I could find of him."

"Well, I'm afraid my Great Uncle is not well lately. He's quite old." The man said shouldering a walking stick he had been using. "He hasn't had visitors in years now."

"Well, I tried to call. But there was no number listed for him." She explained as the man's eyes looked over hers in curiosity.

"No." he laughed. "There wouldn't be."

"I'm so sorry to have just come here like this and disturbed you. I just, really need to speak with Mr. Blunt." She said her fingers wringing nervously.

"What's this about?" He asked. His stance casual as he looked over her Buick and finally landed back on her.  
"Well... it's a bit of a personal matter." She fumbled as her hands found the pockets of her denim shorts.

"I see." The man said. "Well, perhaps you would like to come inside?" He offered squinting up at the sun. "It's too hot right now to be out."

"Thank you." She said as she watched this strange man produce an old fashioned key from his pocket and turn a lock that was half hidden by the gate's fancy scroll work.  
"My name is Dominic by the way." He said as they walked up the long foot path to the castle. "Everyone calls me Dom."

"Ariadne." She told him as the shadow of the black castle fell over them.

Dom stopped short and stared at her.

"What is it?" She asked when she noticed he was no longer keeping pace with her.

"Oh nothing." Dom said looking carefully over her. "Just been out in the sun too long."


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ She looked up at the black rocks that made up the walls of the castle.

"Their native to this area." Dom explained. "The old girl has been here almost three centuries."

"Yeah, I heard about this place." She said as they approached a handsome mahogany door. It was sturdy and old. With a crest of some kind set in colorful stained glass.

'_I remember this door._' She thought with excitement. '_There is a grand stair case on the other side.'_

She wasn't disappointed. As soon as Dom unlocked the front door, she was greeted by mahogany stairwell that overpowered the foyer. It's lighting was done naturally by the beautiful stained glass windows on the open second and third floor.

"Wow." Ariadne said feeling the air leave her body.  
"Still gets me every time to." Dom said. "No matter how many years go by."

"There you are." Came a woman's voice. Ariadne and Dom turned to see an attractive blond woman in her late 40's come into the room. She stopped short when she saw Ariadne. As if the shock of a stranger was almost like seeing a ghost. Her hands flew to her heart and she stared wide eyed at their visitor.

"Um.. _Dom_? Who is this?" The woman asked. Her voice sounding strange when it landed on his name.

"Ariadne, this is my sister, Phillipa." Dom said waving at the well groomed blond woman. They certainly did look alike. Phillipa possessing the same height and natural good looks as her brother. Her beauty was only enhanced by the expensive clothes she was wearing.

"Ariadne?" Phillipa asked in shock as she looked at her, obviously, younger brother.

"Yes. She is here to speak to Mr. Archibald Blunt." Dom said giving his older sister a knowing look.

"I see." Phillipa told him as she clasped her hands together.  
"Perhaps I should go find Arthur?" She asked turning a terse smile to Dom.

"That would be wise." Dom said not breaking his sister's gaze.

The blond woman left and Ariadne felt her brain rattle in confusion. The way Phillipa talked to the younger man was not how most older sister's spoke with their younger brothers. Phillipa had at least 10 years on Dom if not more. Yet, she looked at him for clues on how to act.

'_Maybe this is just how rich siblings talk to one another._' She thought. She looked around the beautifully furnished home. This family certainly was well off. Their art work, furniture and rugs were all beautiful and well cared for.

Dom slid his well used walking stick into a nearby umbrella stand.

"Would you like something to drink?" He asked. "I can show you around a little." He offered.

"Oh, um, yes." Ariadne said feeling rather under dressed in her opulent surroundings. She should be wearing some kind of romantic dress with floating sleeves. Not an over washed T-shirt, shorts and Covers with no socks.

"Wait right here, please." He said with a smile and vanished down a hall. Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the handsomely appointed room. It was lined floor to ceiling with books and leather furniture. Everything about it spoke to a masculine influence as she looked at a stunning painting of the Blackwood castle over the fireplace.

"Painted by Drews Blunt in 1904. Right before her suicide off the tower." A voice came to her. Ariadne turned guiltily to see a tall man coming out of the hallway Phillipa had vanished in. He might have been handsome, if it were not for the angry look her wore. His dark hair was smoothed back and he, like Dom, looked an old fashioned kind of handsome. Like he belonged to another century.

He was dressed in a suit of all things. It's color was an appropriate pale tan for the spring weather. It looked cool and comfortable enough to wear in this heat.

"Oh." Was all Ariadne said as the man stepped gracefully into the parlor. He was starring at her. Taking all of her in like he was appraising her. His gaze made her uncomfortable and it was with relief that she saw an older woman bustle into the library.

"My word! I thought Phillipa was pulling my leg!" She said fluttering her hand to her heart. She was a much older woman. In her late 70's or 90's perhaps. She could still walk very well and she was nimble on her feet as she crossed the room in front of the other man and took Ariadne's hand.

"My dear, we _never_ have company." She said as she warmly greeted their guest. Her accent wasn't American but seemed a very educated mix of European schooling.

"I'm sorry to have just dropped in on you like this." Ariadne said as the old lady pulled her to a nearby sofa. The dark haired man with a scowl stayed perfectly still as he watched them.

"I would have called but I couldn't find a number." She explained as the old woman looked over her. The way the old lady's eyes picked up each detail of Ariadne's face and hair. it reminded her of seeing older relatives. Ones who had not seen her in so long they had to look for little clues as to the person she used to be.

"Oh, yes. Eames, my grandson, he won't tolerate a phone in the house."

"Oh." Ariadne said feeling uncomfortable again. She could still feel the dark haired man's eyes on her.

"I came here to speak with Mr. Archibald Blunt." She told the old lady. Out of everyone she had met that day, the old lady seemed the nicest.  
The lady turned to the dark haired young man in shock.

"She's here to see Archibald Blunt, Arthur." She told him. Her blue eyes merry with some kind of hidden secret.

"I heard." The dark haired man said in a cold, deep voice.

"I see you've meet Grace." Dom said as he came into the room. He handed her a bottled water and sat down next to the dark haired man.

"Ariadne, this is my great Aunt, Grace Eames." He said waving a hand at the old lady.

"So happy to have you hear, Dear." She said with a warm smile.

"This is my cousin." Dom said nodding to the dark haired man who had been giving Ariadne such a cold, angry stare. "Arthur." He said and the dark haired man nodded.

"Pleased to meet all of you. I know Mr. Blunt must not be feeling well these days, but I was just hoping he could talk to me if he's able." She said feeling too many eyes on her. These people were very interested in her. All of their attentions were focused squarely on her.

"Well, I'm afraid the Mr. Archibald Blunt is not able to receive any company." Grace said to her. A sly hint that the old lady was being less the honest with the inflections of her words. "But, Arthur here is Archibald Blunt's... executor." She said brightly. Her clever blue eyes hitting on the dark haired man.

Arthur shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Yes. I can help you." He said formally. "Would you like to go into my study?" He said stiffly. His long frame suddenly springing up.

Ariadne looked at Grace. As if she was asking the old lady if it was alright to leave with this strange young man.

"Go on, Dear." She whispered. "I'll see you in a bit."


	3. Chapter 3

3.

~ Ariadne followed Arthur down hallway that was lined richly in stained glass, more wood paneling and stunning art work.

"This way, please." Arthur said curtly as he held open the door to a secluded room.

It was more then just a study or an office. It was yet another library. The space was huge and uniquely masculine. Not a trace of feminine touches as all the furniture was dark and suited towards a by gone era in decorating.

"You have a computer." She said noticing the handsome desk top on an almost royal looking desk.

"Yes." Arthur said closing the door behind them.  
"You have a computer, but no phone." She asked.

"The no phone rule is because of my cousin. Eames. There is no one we need to call anyway." Arthur told her as he sat behind his desk.

Without being asked, she took as careful set across from him. She looked around the elegant room. A large painting hung over the fireplace. A stunningly beautiful woman in a blue dress. Her clothing like something from a history book.

"If you are Ariadne, I assume you are here to discuss the terms of your adoption." He said folding his hands over his lap.

"You know about me?" She asked in stunned disbelief.  
"I am aware of Mr. Archibald Blunt's business, yes." Arthur said.  
"Mr. Blunt. He's your...?" She asked letting him finish the question.  
"Great Uncle." Arthur said with a twitch to his jaw.  
"I see." She said. "Why do all of you call him by his entire name?"

"Pardon?"

"You all say 'Mr. Archibald Blunt'. Never 'Uncle Archie' or anything like that." She said wondering where the gall to ask such a thing had come from.

"My family has their own ways." Arthur said stiffly as he unlocked a desk drawer and took out a metal box.

Ariadne watched in fascination as he skillfully unlocked the metal box and looked over some papers.  
"I assume you found Mr. Blunt's name on your adoption records. As well as this address." He said looking up at her. His scowl was back and he looked angry.  
"Yes. I was hoping he might be able to tell me who my real parents were." She said.  
"Afraid not." Arthur told her slamming the lid of the metal box down and locking it once more. He slid some worn papers to her and put the metal box back into it's drawer.

Ariadne looked to him to see if it was alright to look at them.

"More of your adoption records." Arthur said not looking at her.

Her fingers made contact with the smooth, heavy papers. They were expensive and legal looking as she carefully unfolded them.  
"My parents adopted me when I was six." She whispered. The records were almost identical to the ones her mother had. On a paper clip was attached a faded photograph of her mother and father. There were holding her in their laps. Something caught her interest. At the corner of the photo was heavy scroll work. The kind that was on the gate surrounding the castle.

"Wait, I was _here_? I was at Blackwood Castle?" She asked.  
"I'm not sure." Arthur said looking away.  
"My records list this as the address, and look." She said pointing out the gate's scrolling. "That is apart of the gate. What was Mr. Blunt's association with my adoption?" She asked.

"I couldn't say except that he found your mother and father and they took you home." Arthur told her.  
"Is Mr. Blunt my father?" She asked.

Arthur snorted a laugh.  
"Not hardly." He said with the first real smile she had seen on him.  
"Then how did he become involved?" She asked persistently.

Arthur was shuffling papers on his desk and shook his head.  
"I really can't say. It was almost twenty years ago." He told her.  
"You would have been a little boy then." She agreed. "Did you live here? Did we play together?" She asked.

Arthur's eyes cut to her. His face cold and distant.

"You know, don't you?" She asked seeing a flicker of knowledge in his eyes. "Please, tell me the truth. I promise, I'm not hear to make trouble for you or your family. I just need to know."

For a long time, she was certain he wouldn't answer her. His posture was so strait and stiff. He looked like he was made of stone.  
"I only know... what Archibald Blunt has told me." He said softly. "That he found a little girl, lost in the woods one day."

"Me?" She choked.

Arthur nodded.  
"He carried her, back to the castle. The family took care of her like she was their own as they searched for her family. They hired detectives and placed radio and television ads asking for her family to come forward. Even offering a reward." Arthur said as if telling a story. "No one, ever came forward. Eventually, the family... kept you." Arthur said guiltily.

"Kept me?" Ariadne repeated feeling the air wanting to leave her body.  
"Archibald Blunt, kept you." Arthur said soberly. "He... he decided it was best to give you up for adoption because he felt you deserved a mother and father. I can tell you it was a hard decision for him."

Ariadne sat back in her chair. The information Arthur had just given her felt heavy. Too much to take in.  
"So, no one knows who my real parents are?" She asked feeling tears form in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, no." Arthur said. His voice sympathetic and kind.

She felt the unsettling pain of a headache coming on.  
"Were they good people? The couple who adopted you?" He asked at last.

"Yes." She said as if on auto pilot. "My Dad died when I was in High School, my mother past away a few months ago. Breast Cancer."

"I'm very sorry." Arthur said. His voice sounding sincere and sad for her.  
"I knew I was adopted, I just... I never knew all the details." She told him. He realized her water bottle was still in her hand and she drank from it tentatively.

"Can I keep this picture?" She asked with a sigh. Arthur looked taken aback. As if she had asked for a prized possession. There was no reason he should be attached to a picture of people he had never met. But he still looked torn.  
"Um, certainly." He told her. "I know this doesn't give you much information." He offered.

"It gives me more questions then answers." She said sadly.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ Without a knock, Grace Eames let herself into Arthur's study.

"Are you finished in here, Dear?" She asked leaning on her cane. "Only, I wanted to show our guest the rose garden before dinner."

"Grace, she's not staying for dinner." Arthur said. His voice back to sounding grumpy and cold.  
"Well of course she is! What have you been told about arguing with an _old _lady, young man?" Grace said giving Arthur a secret smile.

Ariadne looked back and forth from one to the other. It was like they shared some kind of inside joke that only Grace thought was funny.

Arthur scowled and looked out the window.  
"It looks like rain." He said darkly.

"All the more reason to see them now!" Grace said filled with a strange energy.

~ Ariadne was grateful for Grace's presence. The older woman's chatter was welcomed after the information Arthur had reveled to her before.

"When I was a little girl, my father and I were responsible for planting all of these roses." She said waving at the colorful and impressive rose garden. "Roses had not been at Blackwood Castle since the storm of 1845. It took a lot of convincing to let us plant them."

"Convincing?" Ariadne said looking over the well tended roses. "Who did you have to convince? Archibald?"

Grace smiled.  
"He was, and still is, difficult." She said in a far away voice.

"1845, the storm that killed the Blunt family?" Ariadne asked remembering the gas station owner. It felt like years ago now. "All except the three sons." She added.

"The village still talks I see." Grace said with an amused little chuckle. "Yes, they love a good scary story don't they? The three sons were actually first cousins." Grace explained. "Their grandparents were the Lord and Lady Blunt."

"How were the three sons cursed?" Ariadne asked.

"Well, how is anything cursed?" Grace asked as the two women watched the sun sinking into the sea. "It had to do with a lovely village girl. One of the three sons fell in love with her and tried to help her when the village wanted to burn her as a witch."

"Burn her?" Ariadne asked.  
"It was 1845." Grace said with a shrug of the shoulders. "Anyway, the young men tried to hide her but she was accidentally killed in the storm. Her body was never found. Word has it that when the servants fled in the morning, the Blunts were all dead. All except the three sons."  
"Dead from what?" Ariadne asked.

"Who knows?" Grace said with a smile. "All I can tell you is this family is happy and healthy today. I have lived my entire life in their love and never wanted for anything." She said as she guided her back to the house. "So much for curses."

"Do you remember when I was here?" Ariadne asked.  
"Oh, no." Grace said sadly. "I was living in Europe until a few years ago. I moved out of Blackwood Castle with my father when I was 20." She said with a smile. "I only came back here to die. Like all the Blunts do."

~ It had started to rain and Grace insisted Ariadne stay for dinner.  
"I so rarely have company." Grace admonished Arthur when he protested. "You won't deny an _old_ lady her wishes, will you?"

Ariadne wondered why Grace was always calling herself old in front of Arthur like that. As if she was teasing him.

"Ariadne, we would love to have you stay." Dom said coming into the dining room. Behind him was a tall blond young man in his mid forties.  
"Ariadne, this is my older brother, James." Dom said introducing him. James looked like Dom with only a few subtle differences other then age.

"Please to meet you." James said looking Ariadne over in surprise. "We haven't had visitors in a long time." He said.

"Oh Ariadne." Grace called when another man walked casually into the dinning room. Ariadne wondered how many relatives could be hiding in the walls when Grace introduced them.  
"This is my grandson son, Eames." Grace said to the handsome gentleman in his early thirties.

"Well, Phillipa has prepared an excellent dinner for our guest tonight." Grace said as Eames gave Ariadne a curious look.

A flash of lighting and roll of thunder sounded ominously outside and seemed to reverberate through the castle.  
"The acoustics." Arthur whispered pulling out a chair for her. "It picks up all sorts of noises, inside and out."

Ariadne sat at Grace's side as Phillipa presented dinner for them. James and Phillipa seemed to look to their younger brother, Dom, as how they should act and what they should say to Ariadne. Both of them giving her the odd glance as the party ate in silence.

"So, Ariadne." Eames said as he sat across from her. Like Grace, he had an English accent. "Tell us what you think of this colorful lot. All of the sisters, brothers, cousins and grandmothers."

"Eames." Arthur said coldly from Ariadne's other side. "You will keep a civil tongue at this table."

"I'm just curious what our guest thinks about our little family." Eames said obviously arriving drunk to dinner. "Tell us. What do you think of my Grandmother?" He said throwing Grace a spiteful look. Grace said nothing and sulked back in her seat like and admonished child.

"Eames." Dom said sternly. "Why don't you go upstairs? We can bring you up a tray later."

"It happened here you know." Eames said.  
"Eames." Arthur said slowly.  
"Where they found all the dead Blunts." He went on.

"Eames." Cobb said more rationally.  
"Dead right here at this very table. _Murdered_." Eames said spitefully.

"Eames!" Arthur shouted standing up.

Ariadne suddenly wanted to flee the room and the castle. She wanted to get into her car and drive as far away from this place as possible.

"Leave." Arthur said with a warning glint in his eye. Arthur and Eames seemed to stare at each other for a long time before the latter finally abandoned the dinner party.

"I do apologize." Grace said.

"Don't apologize for him, Grace." Arthur grumbled as he sat back down. "He always was the back sheep."

Ariadne realized she was breathing hard from the exchange.  
"You see, my grandson has been very upset since word came of my diagnosis." Grace offered. "I was diagnosed with cancer of the liver. I have only a short while left. I wanted to spend them here at the family estate. My _grandson_, never liked it here and didn't want to come back." She explained.

"Eames, he's your cousin?" Ariadne asked the table. Only Arthur and Dom nodded. James and Phillipa looked at their younger brother before returning to their meal.

~ "It's really coming down." Ariadne said after a quite meal and dry small talk. "I need to get back on the road. I stayed a lot longer then I should have."

"Oh no." Grace said. "It's too bad out there. The roads are far too treacherous for you to drive."

"Grace is right." Arthur said reluctantly. "The drive off our property is not safe. Especially in this weather."

"No. I'll be fine." Ariadne said opening the big front door with it's handsome stained glass and taking a deep breath before the rain hit her.

"Arthur!" Grace was shouting over the storm. "Arthur, don't let her go!"

Ariadne had just reached her car and was already soaking wet when Arthur was beside her.

"Please, come back inside. I can't let you leave in this." He told her offering his hand. The rain pelting down on them. The drops so hard it hurt when they hit.  
"No, it was a mistake to came here!" Ariadne shouted over the heavy rain. She could hear the ocean crashing from somewhere as lighting pierced through the sky making both of them jump.  
"Please, come back inside." Arthur begged taking her hand. "I hate storms."

His voice was so honest, so sincere, she felt herself go with him. Allowed him to take her back inside.

Back into Blackwood Castle.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

~ "Oh, Thank God!" Grace was exclaiming as Arthur and Ariadne came back into the large foyer. Both of them were soaking wet and Ariadne was shivering from the cold. The old lady was handing her a coat from the hall closet and looking at her worriedly.

"Arthur, don't ever let her leave again." Grace said in a petulant, childish manner. Her face looking ready to cry and complain. "Never again!" She reiterated. Her voice close to tears.

"It's alright, Grace." Arthur said darkly as if humoring her.

"We have a guest room." Grace said to Ariadne. "Why don't you go and take a bath and try to get some sleep? I don't want you to drive in this rain."

"Alright." Ariadne said feeling the cold wetness in her shoes. Wishing she wasn't dripping water on the family's nice floors. She felt completely embarrassed as she stood there shaking from the cold.

"Phillipa!" Grace shouted and, like magic, the blond woman appeared again.

"Oh my." Phillipa said as she saw Ariadne standing there, shivering from the freezing cold rain. She felt Arthur's hand at her back has he seemed to take charge.

"Please, take our guest to the blue room and see that she's settled for the night." He told her. Phillipa nodded and did as she was told. Arthur seeming to have some authority Ariadne was not aware of.

As Ariadne followed the elegant blond woman up the rich stair case, she looked back at Arthur. No one had bothered to give him a coat from the cold, wet rain. He was just as wet as her and yet, he wasn't shaking from the chill. He gave her a nod as she followed Phillipa.

~ "Is Arthur one of your cousins?" Ariadne asked as Phillipa led her down a hallway.

"Yes." Phillipa answered. Giving nothing away. "You can stay in here. It's our best guest room."

The blue room was enchanting and lovely. It was decorated in white and blue. Like a china pattern.

"I think we have something you can wear, why don't you take a warm bath? We don't want you to catch a cold." Phillipa said politely.

Ariadne nodded as she wandered into the bathroom. It was clean and would have been modern 50 years ago. The fixtures still looked sound and serviceable, everything well cared for and still working.

She was shivering too much to question it. The rain and thunder pounding relentlessly outside made her feel a little afraid as the power of the storm threatened to barge in.

"It's alright." Phillipa said coming into the bathroom with fresh towels. "This isn't the worst storm we've ever had. I think we'll make it." She said handing Ariadne a white night gown.

~ Ariadne took a long hot bath in the antique bathtub. She would love to have a tub like this at home. It's luxurious feel relaxing her and making her body warm again.

The night dress Phillipa had given her was old fashioned. It had lacy, flowing sleeves that billowed out. Perfectly suiting the atmosphere of the castle.

~ Phillipa had already left when Ariadne emerged from the bathroom. The blue and white bed was beckoning her as the storm carried on outside. Ariadne gave no more thought to the castle, the family or the storm as all she wanted to do was bury herself in that bed and sleep.

~ A hard crash of lighting startled her from slumber as she cringed in her bed. Her mind trying to recall where she was. It was still night and the curtains to her windows had been left open. White shrieks of lighting were flooding the room she wasn't used to. She stayed still as her eyes moved about the shadowy figures of the room. The flash of lighting only giving her a gimps of the things hiding there.

She strained her ears as a creaking noise came from the hallway. Under the door, shone a light. Someone was still awake. Still prowling around in the halls.

She didn't move as she saw with wide eyes her door nob turning. Her heart beating in her chest as she wondered wildly if she had locked her bedroom door.

The nob turned and then stopped. Only to turn again. The door stayed still and closed. No one came in. She relaxed her breathing as she saw the shadow of legs walk away from her door and shut off the hall light.

~ She awoke to sunlight streaming in her window. The stained glass catching the light and distorting it into rainbows of colors and shapes.

The storm had been forgotten in the early dawn of day. A phantom that was best not thought about again. She wasn't sure how she had fallen back to sleep after what she had seen last night. Someone had tried to get into her room.

'_Maybe it was just Phillipa, coming to check on me_.' She convinced herself. '_Maybe it was just a dream_.'

She sat in bed for a long time as she watched the sun rise and heard birds start to sing. She wondered here her clothes were. Phillipa had taken them away while she was taking a bath and all she had on was this long, white night gown.

~ She was too restless to stay in bed. She wanted to explore the house a little. On tentative feet, she left her bed and gently opened her door. Peering into the hall, she saw it was mercifully empty. She couldn't hear the sounds of the family. No noise seemed to carry to her room.

She stepped out of her room and immediately landed on a floor board that creaked loudly. She froze and looked around. The hall still empty and silent.

On quite feet, she wandered down the halls. Most of the rooms were empty and obviously kept as ready spare rooms. Like the blue room, they were all well decorated and furnished in heavy antiques that were beautiful and expensive.

Finally, she reached a door that peaked her interest. It was a narrow door that was tucked away in it's own alcove. There was a key in the lock and Ariadne felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland as she turned the key and it unlocked with a pop.

She was filled with a childlike giddiness as she was about to enter a place she was surely not supposed to be.

The room was dark and cramped. She almost screamed as she felt the whisper of something on her face in the darkness. She flung her arms across her face wildly trying to beat, whatever it was, off. Every horror movie she had ever seen jumping into her memory, when her hands alighted on a string above her. She pulled it and a dim light bulb snapped on. She was in a closet. The biggest closet she had ever seen. It was stuffed from floor to ceiling with clothing and smell of moth balls and old things. Like her grandparents closet.

As a child, she had loved to play dress up in her grandmother's closet. The smell of old clothes evoking a deep and happy memory in her.

She looked around and realized it was a man's closet. The clothing were mostly suits and shoes belonging to a gentleman. She wondered if such clothing belonged to Dom or even Arthur, but dismissed the idea at once. These suits were far to old for them. She carefully inspected a handsome tuxedo with tails and decided it was at least a century old. It's fabric worn from age.

_'Must be where they keep the family's old clothes. I guess they don't throw things away_.' She thought as her eyes fell over a Union officer's uniform from the Civil War. She felt like she was in a museum of sorts as she examined dress shoes and more military uniforms. No doubt they belonged to the Blunt men who had served their country in various wars.

Finally, she grew bored exploring the huge closet of vintage clothing and decided to find her way out. She had gotten a little turned around in the large, maze like, closet and wandered around till she found the door. She sighed in relief. She had to get back to her room. She wouldn't want to be found here. She turned the nob easily and felt a breath of cool, refreshing air as she stepped into a room of bright sunlight.  
"Ariadne?" Came a surprised voice.

She jumped and turned around. Arthur was sitting in a winged back chair. A book in his hand. He was staring at her in mild shock as she looked over what was obviously his set of rooms.

'_Stupid! Your in his bedroom!_' She hissed to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

"What were you doing in there?" He asked. His voice not angry or upset as he stood up and carefully put his book aside.

"I... I'm so sorry. I was out in the hall and I was looking... I'm so sorry." She said feeling her face burn. Surely the families hospitality would now come to an end. Arthur would say politely that she could go home now and please do not come back.

She was surprised instead to see he was smiling at her. A faint, humorous smile. Like she had amused him.

"Yes, I forget how big this place it." He said. "It's hard to not explore. This closet has two ways in. One in here, and door in the hall. So the servants can restock it without intruding into the chambers." He explained opening the door again.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered again.

"Don't be." He said gently. "It's alright."

She looked awkwardly at him. Very aware she was in nothing but a night gown.

"Phillipa took my clothes with her last night." She explained to a question he didn't ask.

"I see." He said. "Well, lets find you something to put on till she brings them back." He said kindly as he went into the massive closet.

"I thought..." She said following him back in. "You use this for _your_ clothes to?" She asked looking over the more modern wardrobe she had missed before.

"Of course. This is my closet." He said with a chuckle. He pulled down a handsome ruby red robe with a crest on it. "I think this will do for now." He said handing it over to her. It was thick and heavy. It's fabric a soft velvet that tickled her fingers.

"Thank you." She breathed pulling it on. It's arms were too long for her. He smiled as he stooped to expertly roll them up.

"That's better." He said standing back and appraising her.

"I didn't mean to be poking about in your closet." She said lamely. The heavy robe feeling good on her body. It still held traces of the cologne and aftershave Arthur wore.

"It's alright." He said.

"It's just, I thought it was used for storage. There was so many old clothes in here. I didn't think it was used... by anyone." She explained as if that excused her behavior.

"It's alright." He said again. His voice kinder then she had ever heard it before. He looked like he wanted to say something then but held back. He looked slightly uncomfortable.

"Um, we keep a lot of the family's old clothing in here." He said walking though the maze of the closet.

"I saw the civil war uniform." She said pointing to the blue Union coat.

"Yes." Arthur said with a chuckle.

"Can't believe that's here and not in some museum." She added as he carelessly pulled the blue coat out and looked over it grimly.

Arthur shook his head and shoved the uniform back in with the other suits from a long forgotten past. He searched up on the top shelf and his eyes fell on a hat box.

"Andrew Blunt, was a member of the U.S. Calvary." He explained taking down an aged, blue Calvary hat that went with the uniform.

"Oh." Ariadne laughed as he placed it carefully on her head.

It's wide brim sinking over her head and covering her eyes. It felt heavy from age and the importance of the man who wore it. A man long dead and buried by now.

Arthur was smiling.

"Looks good on you." He said. "I think the scabbard is up her on the top shelf. Had to put it up there to keep little hands from hurting themselves."

"I don't want to damage this." She said shyly as she started to take the hat off. Her hands afraid to even touch the priceless heirloom.  
"It's alright." Arthur said taking it from her.

She was suddenly seized with the playful idea to put the hat on him. He was so much more friendly then he was yesterday. He was looking at her, expectantly, as she guided the hat on his head. Where it had slid over her own head and ears, it sat perfectly on Arthur. The young man looking important and military as the hat seemed made for him.

"It fits you." She whispered as Arthur's face seemed to cloud over. He looked uncomfortable.

"Arthur!" Came a muffled voice from his bedroom. The two of them turned away from their dress up.

Grace had come charging into his room without knocking.

"In here, Grace." Arthur called. His voice back to being dark and annoyed.

"Oh, my Dear!" Grace said. "Were all so worried. Ariadne had vanished from her room!" Grace said hurriedly coming into the closet. Her blue eyes missing Ariadne completely.  
"It's alright, Grace." Arthur said lazily looking at Ariadne. Finally, Grace noticed the small woman drowning in Arthur's elegant robe.

"Oh my, we were so worried when you weren't in your room." She said as her hand went to her heart. She looked at Arthur admiringly. A knowing light in her eyes. "What have you children been up to?" She asked looking over the pair of them.

Ariadne, dressed oddly in a man's robe and Arthur in Civil War Calvary hat.

"I'll thank you to keep you suspicions to yourself." Arthur almost barked at her. His face grumpy again as he carelessly pulled off the hat and smoothed out his hair.

"An old lady is entitled to her suspicions young man." Grace said teasingly.

"Ariadne." She said refocusing on their guest. "Phillipa has brought you some clothes to wear. After your dressed and we've breakfasted, I thought I could show you around the castle. It's been so long since you were here last."

"Thank you. But I really need to be going." Ariadne said feeling awkward in Arthur's closet in her state of near undress.

"Nonsense." Grace said. "It's not everyday we have company and I intend to enjoy it."

"Grace." Arthur said sternly.

"Now, I won't be argued with. I want this young lady to stay the morning with me and keep me company. End of discussion." Grace said making her exit.

Ariadne glanced up at him as Grace left them alone again. His looked annoyed by the old lady.

"I'm sorry." She whispered again and he shook his head.  
"It sounds like the old lady has plans for you today." He said. "Best not argue. She's always gotten her way. Ever since she was little. Her father spoiled her."

"Sounds like everyone spoils her." Ariadne said with a smile as Arthur guided them out of the massive closet and back to his large suite of rooms.

"Yes. It's always been like this where Grace has been concerned." Arthur said sadly.  
"How old is she? If you don't mind me asking."

"Well _I_ don't mind. She was born in 1920. Her mother was a socialite who passed away when she was still young. Her father raised her on his own and never remarried. He left Blackwood castle after his wife died and took her all over the world with him. Raised her more like a companion then a child or young lady." Arthur explained. He sounded annoyed with Grace's father. A man who was likely long dead before he was even born.

"Sounds like a interesting childhood." Ariadne said.

"Yes, you can never accuse Grace Eames of being dull." Arthur grumbled.

"She says she's coming back to the castle to die." Ariadne said in a whisper.

Arthur nodded.

"I'm afraid so. It's the natural way of things, do be born, to grow old and to die. It's how things are supposed to be." He said humorously.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

~ The pants Phillipa had brought for her were too long, but she rolled them up and dressed in a shirt that was only slightly too big for her. Appreciating that the woman had taken care to find things that fit. Ariadne joined the old lady for a simple breakfast of tea and toast.

"So, tell me what do you think of our resident stick in the mud?" Grace asked as soon as Ariadne sank her teeth into her toast.

"Um..." She said as soon as she swallowed. "Pardon?" She asked not understanding.

"Arthur." Grace said with a bemused little smile.  
"Oh, he's alright." Ariadne said feeling the old lady knew things she didn't.

"I nearly fainted dead away at seeing the two of you in his closet like that. He never lets anyone near his clothes. Never knew a man so prickly about his wardrobe. What were you two doing in there?" She asked.

"I got lost." Ariadne explained. Grace laughed to herself. Not willing to share the joke with Ariadne.

"When you were little, you would wander all over this castle." Grace said with a smile of remembrance.

Ariadne said nothing. Hoping the old lady would continue.

"On rainy days, you used to play dress up in those closets all the time. But your favorite was his closet. I think because you knew you weren't supposed to be in there, and that he would never be mad at you if he caught you." Grace said sipping her tea.

"Who?" Ariadne asked in a breathless voice.

Grace seemed to come back to herself for a moment.  
"Well, Archibald Blunt. Of course." she said.  
"That was his closet? Before it became Arthur's?" Ariadne asked. Her heart beating rapidly. Imagining herself as a little girl. Playing dress up in all the museum quality clothes.

"I thought you weren't here when I stayed here before." Ariadne said feeling her courage rise. Grace looked like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.  
"Well, I wasn't of course. I was just told that's how you used to be." She said. Her voice becoming worried.  
"Told by who?" Ariadne asked.

"It's not important." Grace said standing up. "Now, let me show you around."

~ "The foundation was laid to Blackwood Castle in 1740. Lord Henry Blunt and his family had made a fortune off the colonies and wanted a home better then what he had left in Europe." Grace explained as she showed off the still impressive library and dinning room.

"The family has always lived here." She explained.

"Is Arthur a nephew or grandson?" Ariadne asked. Suddenly curious about him.

"Uh, a nephew." Grace said carefully. "His parents died ages ago."

"He seems to have the run of the place." Ariadne said absentmindedly. Half expecting Grace not to hear. "I mean, he manages Archibald Blunt's estate." She explained as Grace looked at her. The two women had wandered outside into the fresh air. The storm of the night before had made the flowers come alive and everything smell fresh and clean.

"The stables are as old as the castle." Grace said ignoring Ariadne's observations.

"You keep horses?" Ariadne asked.

"Oh yes. Everyone in the family rides except myself and Eames." Grace explained as they walked to the elegant stables. There were over twenty stalls and a large carriage house. Now, a pristine Rolls Royce sat in the house.

"It's from the fifties, I think." Grace said with a sigh. "One of my uncles bought it new. No one ever drives it these days."

"How do you get supplies, groceries?" Ariadne asked peeking into the luxury cabin of the classic car.

"James and Phillipa go into the city a lot. They take the sail boat. It's faster if they just sail to the city then drive to town. Always has been."

"Oh." Ariadne said. She had forgotten that the ocean was so close by. Of course these people had a sail boat. Probably had a yacht or two as well. Who needed a road or car when they could sail anywhere from their backyard?

She was drawn then to the sound of the horses. A handsome gray was making his boredom at being locked in his stall known.

"Don't worry, Arthur will take them out for their walk later today. He's always taken excellent care of the horses here." Grace said as the gray came up to them and demanded Ariadne pay attention to him. His big brown eyes were soft and pleasing as she rubbed his muzzle. The younger woman slightly intimidated by the big, beautiful animal.

"Do you ride?" Grace asked.

"Oh no!" Ariadne said with a surprised laugh. "No. I'm a city girl."

"Well, it's never too late to learn. You will have to ask Arthur to teach you. He's an excellent teacher." Grace said.

"I've never even been near one." Ariadne said as the gray seemed to refuse to let her leave. Following her as the two women walked away.

"I'll tell Arthur to let you ride Perseus here." Grace said pointing to the gray.

"Perseus?" Ariadne asked catching the gray's eye as the horse seemed to be flirting with her.  
"Oh yes." Grace said. "Arthur always had a great love of Greek Mythology."

~ "The tower was installed in 1820." Grace said pointing to the impressive tower that served no real need, but complimented the castle never the less.  
"Lady Blunt, at the time, wanted a widow's walk. Which is foolish since none of the family or sons were in the navy or sailed. Fashionable to the end."

"Was she the Lady of the house during the storm of 1845?" Ariadne asked. Grace paused.

"Well yes. Her name was Rose." Grace said with a faint smile of fondness. "She was a beauty in her youth. It's her portrait that hangs in Arthur's study now. A more fashionable creature never drew breath. Or so I've been told." Grace amended.

"She was killed? During the storm?" Ariadne asked tentatively.

"Oh yes. Poor woman was found dead in the dining room when the villagers came. Her son survived and was beside himself with grief." Grace explained.

"What happened to all of them?" Ariadne asked feeling Grace would tell her. The old woman seemed not willing to keep things to herself.

"Well, the three sons had taken in a girl in secret. Her name was Ada, and she was an outcast in the village. Her parents were unknown and it seemed wherever she went, strange things happened." Grace explained carefully. "They hid her from the village because they believed she would be burned. When the storm happened, she vanished into the sea, or so the sons said. Their story, was that Ada had murdered the family before she left. Although how she could have killed fifteen people, many of them grown and healthy, is anyone's guess." Grace said.

Ariadne scowled. Her mind lost in thought.

"How did the three sons survive?" She asked.  
"For some reason Ada didn't kill them, or the servants. The staff walked back into the village in the morning, claiming the Devil had come in the castle the night of the storm. That Ada was a witch and had cursed the three sons." Grace explained.

"How were they cursed?" Ariadne asked. The air in her lungs growing tight.

"You don't believe in those things, do you?" Grace said with a laugh. Her bright eyes turning to Ariadne.

"Oh no." Ariadne breathed out. The spell suddenly broken and she felt foolish.

"Oh, Arthur!" Grace said happily as a man appeared out in the gardens. Ariadne felt the story of Ada die away in the warm spring weather. Arthur looked his normal grumpy self as he approached them.  
"Eames is looking for you, Grace." Arthur said as if the old lady were in trouble.

"Oh your right. I forgot." Grace said waving to her head. "Must be getting old. Eames and I have always had a long visit after breakfast." Grace said to Ariadne. "It's a standing appointment and he'll be cross if I break tradition now. Arthur?" She asked looking to the younger man. "I want you to take Ariadne riding. She says she's never been."

Arthur gave Ariadne a hard look that she cowered away from.

"I think she should ride Perseus. That horse seems to have a crush on her." Grace suggested.

"I think Ariadne was planning to leave soon." Arthur said not looking at their guest.  
"I really do need to leave." Ariadne said trying not to be a bother.

"Nonsense!" Grace said as if her authority could not be questioned. "I _desire_ you take her out for a ride. Show off some of that so called charm of yours!"

"Grace." Arthur said curtly.  
"Arthur." Grace replied in an airy voice that showed she didn't take the younger man seriously.

"It's alright. I should get going." Ariadne whispered to him. Trying to be helpful.

Arthur was watching the old lady walk back into the house.

"No. It's not you fault." Arthur said rubbing his forehead. "I _should_ take you riding." He said suddenly. His face cheering up.

"No, it's okay." She said feeling slightly nervous.

"No, I was planing to take the horses out anyway. May as well have a nice long ride." He said. His face softening as his eyes met hers.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

~ "You really don't have to do this." Ariadne said. "I mean, I don't want to be a bother." She watched Arthur expertly saddle the gray on a stunning green pasture by the stabels.

"It's no bother." He said with a laugh. "I haven't had company in a while."

He walked around the gray and ensured the saddle was secure.

"Now, the thing to remember is that a horse is a big animal with a mind of it's own." He said seriously.

"Yeah?" She said feeling herself tremble slightly as the gray stood waiting for her.

"But your the one in charge. You have to show him who's boss." Arthur said. "Once your in the saddle, I want you to sit up strait and don't let him know your scared."

"I_ am_ scared." Ariadne said looking at the suddenly too large beast that he expected her to ride.

"Well, don't let him know that." Arthur laughed. "I'll be with you the whole time." He said nodding to the bay he had already saddled. "Perseus is a ladies horse, you'll be fine."

He held out his hand for her to climb on the great animal.

"Okay." She said looking worriedly at Arthur.  
"It's alright. Come on." Arthur said with an amused smile.

She listened to his careful and simple instructions as he almost lifted her up on the saddle. The feeling of being very high up on the horse's back didn't help her relax.

"Now just sit there." Arthur said worriedly as he easily mounted the bay.

"What if he takes off running?" Ariadne asked.

"Pull the rains back and tell him 'whoa'." Arthur said with a laugh as he expertly guided his own mount. He looked so at ease. His long legs casually astride the brown horse as he gracefully cantered next to her.

"So, how to I make it... I mean him... go?" She asked nervously.

Arthur chuckled.

"Just click your heals together." He said.

She looked at him apprehensively. He shook his head and smiled. She had never seen him look so amused and happy.

"Keep your body relaxed and go with his movements." He amended.

She nodded and barely touched the gray with her heels when Perseus began a light canter.

"Oh no!" Ariadne shouted as the horse bounced her rudely in the saddle.

"Your doing fine!" Arthur shouted as he rode up next to her. His face still wearing that amused smerk.

"It's not funny!" Ariadne shouted back at him feeling she was about to fall off.

"Whoa!" Arthur commanded Perseus as he reached over and took hold of the gray. Her mount slowed down and seemed put out that his fun was halted.

"Stand!" He commanded the horse, and Perseus stood perfectly still.

"Thank God!" Ariadne wanted to cry feeling so embarrassed that the horse had run away with her.

"You did very well." Arthur said. That same grin back on his face.

"It's not funny!" She snapped at him.

He threw his hands up.

"Alright." He said. "We can walk from here." He told her pointing to a trial going into the forest.

"Walk?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes. Just walk." Arthur promised. Biting his lip to keep from smiling.

"It's not funny." She said again as the gray walked lazily in pace with Arthur's bay.

"Alright." Arthur said. "But you did do very well." He added.

~ They entered a lush green forest with mature trees and wild flowers coloring the floor.

"So pretty." Ariadne said as the gray ambulated along the trial. His slow and steady pace suiting her much better then his frantic canter. "Do you go on this trail a lot?" She asked him as the bay kept pace with her.

"All the time." Arthur said. "We have a lot of grounds here and it's easier to get around on horse back."

"That and the boat." Ariadne reminded him.  
"I don't like the ocean." Arthur said stiffly. His easy stride on the horse suddenly becoming uncomfortable. "Grace will probably make me take you to the beach before you go." He said with a laugh.

"How long have you been riding?" She asked wanting to change the subject.

"Since I was a little boy. All the Blunt's had to learn to ride." He said.

"Except Eames." Ariadne reminded him.

"He can ride. He just doesn't like to." Arthur told her.

Ariadne spotted another faint trail branching off. She saw the same curling metal gates that were around the castle. These gates were much shorter and didn't seem to encompass anything but land.

"What's that?" She asked nodding to the gates.

"Oh." Arthur said not bothering to look. "The family cemetery." He told her.  
"You have your own cemetery?" She asked.

"All the Blunt family is buried there." He said logically.

"Will Grace be buried there?" She asked. A cold feeling coming over her. The thought of the sweet, feisty old lady being in the cold, forgotten ground.

The idea upset her.

"Yes." Arthur said. "It's where I hope to be buried one day." He added.

"Little young to be thinking about that." She told him.

He said nothing. His face cold and troubled looking.  
"There's something I want you to see." He said kicking the bay into a slightly faster pace.

~ Ariadne was proud of herself for keeping up with him. She had stayed on Perseus and he had trotted carefully over the trail. Dutifully following Arthur on the bay. Mindful that he carried a rider who was scared of him.

"Where are we going?" Ariadne shouted as Perseus splashed happily into a shallow stream.

"You'll see." Arthur called back over his shoulder.

~ Ariadne caught her breath at the sight of the waterfall.

"No one knows this place is here." Arthur said. "It's always the most beautiful after a storm."

The waterfall was cascading down a black, rocky cliff into a small but deep looking lake. It's water clear and clean.

"Oh my!" She exclaimed.  
"Worth the ride?" He asked.

"Yes." She laughed from atop Perseus.

"Do you want to go swimming?" He asked. In this place, he didn't seem like the cold, brooding man she had met only yesterday. He was suddenly a young man. Filled with life and the carelessness of youth.

"I don't have a swimsuit." She laughed. Hoping he was only kidding.

"It's alright." He said nimbly dismounting from the bay and letting the animal roam and drink it's fill of the water. "We can still go swimming." He said pulling off his shoes.

Ariadne swallowed hard as she slowly and carefully slid off the gray. Perseus standing patiently as she tried to gracefully climb off him, and failing miserably.

Arthur was laughing at her.

"Not funny!" She called out in a sing song voice.

"It's a little funny." He called back as she caught him stripping off his shirt.

Perseus hid her from view as she stepped out of her shoes and her too big pants. She had her bra and underwear on and figured with the T-shirt, she should be covered enough. She heard a splash and peeped over the gray to see Arthur had already plunged into the water. He gave off a loud hoot as he came up for air. A reaction to what must have been very cold water.

She looked over to the bay still on the shore. Noticing that Arthur's clothes were carefully hung on a tree branch. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized his shirt and pants were both on the tree branches.

'_What's he wearing?_' She thought as she felt her heart beat faster. She took a deep breath as she stepped away from the gray. Arthur had already swam out into the lake and was waving her towards him.

"Come in!" He called. She nodded and was glad the T- shirt reached past her bottom.

"Just jump in!" He shouted. "Don't think!"

"Okay!" She said nervously. That same trepidation she had when she first got on the gray coming over her.

She took a deep breath and jumped.

The water was piercingly, painfully cold. She swam upwards, breaking the surface at last and as soon as she reached air, she let out a scream.

"Cold?" He was laughing.

"Yes, It's _cold_!" She shouted. Her teeth chattering. Her body prickling her with the cold that took her breath away.

"Keep moving." He laughed. "You'll get used to it."

She groaned and kicked her legs and arms treading water and trying to keep warm as her teeth chattered. She suddenly hated Arthur. He was enjoying her misery too much.

"Here." He said swimming closer to her. His body reaching hers as his hands moved over her arms. She tried to keep her feet on the bottom of the lake, but the black rocks were too slippery.

Finally, Arthur gave up and just pulled her to him. His arms wrapping around her as he was able to stand on the lake's dark and mysterious bottom. His body heat helped warm her and she wondered why she was so cold and he wasn't.

"Better?" He said after awhile. Her skin starting to get used to the chilly water with him so close. She wished she could enjoy the feeling of his nearly naked body holding hers, but the water was not warm enough.

"Yes." She said and was when glad he didn't pull away.

"I forget sometimes that this water is so cold." He said rubbing a warm hand over her bare arms.

She only nodded and was sad to feel him let her go.

"Let's swim to the falls." He said treading away from her.

"Alright." She said breathing hard as the cold was not so bad anymore.


	9. Chapter 9

9.

~ It was a wonderful day. She and Arthur had spent it swimming all over the lake and he even convinced her to dive off the falls. She had breathed a sigh of relief to see that her wore underwear and wasn't totally naked as he nimbly climbed the rocks and gracefully swan dove into the dark pool below.

"You could have broken your neck!" She shouted.

He only laughed.  
"Not as easy as you might think." He said swimming to her. She frightened trying to escape but he quickly grabbed her foot. She shirked in delighted horror as he pulled her too him. His other hand pulling her other leg.

Too quickly she realized her legs were straddling his waist. The water making their bodies buoyant and easy to wrap around each other. Arthur's hands were on her lower back, keeping her body close to his. His eyes meeting hers as she was certain he was about to kiss her. The feel of his strong lean body around her legs felt comfortable.

"Lay back." He whispered as his hands relaxed on her, easing her backwards into the water. She did as he told her. Her hair and body suspended artfully in the water as Arthur held her up. She closed her eyes to the bright sun and let him hold her like that. Her legs still around his waist. Their bodies in such an intimate position if it were not for the concealment of the water.

She felt his lips on her neck then. Tracing an invisible line over to her jaw. She tried not to smile as she knew he would kiss her lips next. She wasn't disappointed.

He gently pulled her up and onto his lap. The water helping her wrap her legs around him more tightly as she met his kiss. His arms pulling her body closer to his. Their kissing perfect and slow. Never breaking or pulling apart.

~ "I think someone tried to get into my room last night." She said as they dried themselves on one of the big black rocks away from the falls. The sun felt good and warmed them after the chilly cold of the lake.

"Maybe you just dreamed it." Arthur offered not looking at her.

"I don't think so." She said. "I thought maybe Phillipa had come to check on me."

"Maybe." Arthur agreed. "The castle, the lights plays tricks on you. Especially during a storm."

"Is that why you don't like storms?" She asked.

"One of the reasons." He said. He looked over at the very top of the falls. "Let's climb up there, alright?" He asked standing up. His tall body much more nimble then hers.

"Up there?" She asked in shock.

"Yes, we can see the castle from it." He promised as on bare feet, he expertly climbed the black rocks.

Ariadne followed him. Arthur was patient and told her where to put her feet and hands. The top of the falls was only slippery black pieces of rock and she felt ready to fall off of at any moment.

"Don't let me fall." She said worriedly as she looked down. Her body hugging the rock.

"Your not going to fall." He said pulling her upward.

The view was worth it. Like the cliff side only the day before, she could see the black castle and the ocean.

"Why don't you like the ocean?" She asked as the privet cove that formed a beach looked inviting.

"I just never did." Arthur said sadly. They finally reached a more comfortable, and stable rock that was covered in moss.

Ariadne breathed a sigh of relief as she laid down. Arthur flopping beside her.

"It will be easier going down." He told her.

"It better be." She snorted a laugh. "Otherwise, I'll have to live up here."

"We can build a little place over there." He agreed nodding to a charming little clearing. "Our own privet getaway."

She was giggling as his hand roamed over her belly. She hadn't realized her shirt had rode up and exposed her skin. She did nothing to stop him. Like before in the lake, this place seemed magical and timeless.

His eyes were focused only on hers as his hands brushed a ticklish thread over her belly and up to her bra. She made no protests as he shifted the restraining garment over her breasts, exposing them to the sun.  
"I'll stop before we go too far." He promised in a rough whispered. She only nodded and felt her body surge with delight as his mouth made contact with her breasts.

~ They were perched on top of the falls as the sun warmed them. Arthur mentioning that they should be going back soon.

"Thank you for taking me here." She said feeling happy and worn out from all the swimming and other activities. Her top and bra were safely repositioned again. She gave Arthur a knowing look and he couldn't stop smiling at her.

"Your welcome." He said as the sun had dried their hair and bodies. He rolled over and kissed her lips sweetly.

He looked so much younger somehow. Not at all a grown man with the problems of a grand estate to worry over. He looked like a carefree youth. Who only cared about swimming all day with her.

"You bring girls here a lot?" She asked.

"Oh no. Never." He said with a laugh. "This is my privet place. Not even Dom and Eames come here. I'm sure they forgot about it."

"So, you _never_ bring anyone here?" She asked in disbelief.

"No." He said simply.

"How long have you lived here? At the castle I mean?" She asked. Biting her lip.

"All my life. I was born here." He said carelessly. His skin soaking up the warm sun beside her.

"So you _were_ here when I was here?" She reasoned.

Arthur turned and looked at her.

"We should be getting back." He said sitting up.

"Arthur, please." She begged as he started to climb down to the horses. The trek down considerably easier then the grueling climb up.

"I really need to know why Archibald Blunt didn't keep me. Why is it such a secret?" She called after him.

"It's not a secret." Arthur snapped. That angry scowl back on his face. "He felt you deserved a mother and father."  
"Was I a bad kid?" Ariadne asked as she claimed down after him. "Why won't you tell me?"

"I told you." He said finally reaching his clothes and pulling them on with startling efficiency.

"Arthur, I found my mother's accounts after she died. Archibald Blunt had been sending her money for almost twenty years. Ever since I was six. Why would he do that? Why would he do that if I wasn't related to him?" Ariadne asked.

Arthur was buttoning up his shirt and turned a cold look on her.

She stepped back and caught her breath. Arthur looked dangerous at that moment.

"If your worried I'm here for money, I'm not. I just want to know. I'm I related to him? Is he my family?" She asked humbly. Her heart hammering in her chest.

"Your not apart of our family." Arthur said in an angry whisper. "You don't want to be."


	10. Chapter 10

10.

~ The ride back to the castle was a quite one. Perseus seemed to pick up on their mood and rode slowly. Keeping a generous length away from the bay. Ariadne felt wounded by Arthur. His words had hurt her in a way she couldn't define.

She wasn't angry about Arthur's romantic advances on her. She had enjoyed their time at the falls until he transformed back into the cold and distant thing he was now.

Ariadne was feeling hungry and dizzy from too much sun as they finally reached the castle. She was glad to see it. She wanted to go home and never see him or this place again.

"I'll put the horses up." Arthur said gently as she clumsily slip off the gray again. Perseus still solid and noble as his rider was no horsewoman.

"Alright." She said. The first word she had said to him since he told her she wasn't apart of his family. Since that wall between them sprang up once more.

She sensed Arthur wanted to say something else but held back. Maybe he wanted to apologize, but he said nothing.

~ "You are sun burnt!" Grace exclaimed as Ariadne came into the castle. She wanted to slink off to her room and re-dress in her own clothes. However, Grace was too quick and sprang on her out of nowhere. The old lady had been sitting at a table, playing a card game with her grandson Eames, when Ariadne tried to sneak in.

"Arthur!" She barked at him as he came in behind her. "Why didn't you make her wear a hat? How could you be so careless?" She snapped at him.

Arthur took a deep breath and let it out as he shut the door. Ariadne noticed that her skin felt tight and stinging. She caught a glance at her reflection in the hall mirror and saw her face was bright pink.

"Oh no." Ariadne whispered as she could already feel the painful sting of the burn. She looked at the hall clock and was shocked to see it was almost five o'clock in the evening. She and Arthur had been at his waterfall all day.

"Arthur, this is unacceptable!" Grace was saying to him.  
"I'm fine, Grace." Ariadne tried to explain as she turned to the old lady. She noticed Arthur wasn't sun burned. He had worn _much_ less clothing then her and he wasn't even tanned or red.

"You most certainly are not!" Grace barked at her.

Eames was smiling from his spot on the table.

"What were the two of you up to?" He asked in an amused little voice. His accent so different from everyone else but Grace.

"Nothing." Arthur growled at his cousin.  
"You two look like you've been swimming." Eames mused. "I know you would never go on the ocean."

"Shut up, Eames!" Arthur barked. That angry scowl back on his face.

"I should go." Ariadne coughed as she was filled with a sense of nausea.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked. His face growing concerned as she felt she might throw up.

"Bathroom?" She asked knowing it was going to happen. Not able to stop it.

Grace pointed to a door and Ariadne ran for it.

The next thing she knew, Ariadne was throwing up and Arthur was holding her hair back.

She was crying at the humiliation of it. These people, who were so nice to her and invited her into their home, only to have her vomit heavily in their bathroom. Arthur, who had treated her to such a lovely day out. Their kissing and exploration of the falls, and each other, had been so perfect and wonderful. Now he was seeing her retching on her hands and knees.

"I'm sorry." She cried as Arthur helped her wash her face. He gently pressed a cool cloth to her brow. She felt so dizzy as he helped her stand up. Her body leaning back into his as he was immovable and held her steady.

"It's not your fault, Darling." Eames was saying. "It's Arthur's. He forgets normal people get sun burned."

"Eames!" Arthur barked as she couldn't stand up anymore.

"Put her to bed, Arthur." Grace was saying gently. The old lady was worried. "I'll bring up some water for her to drink."

~ "I'm sorry." Ariadne said realizing that Arthur was carrying her up the grand staircase. "I'm sorry I threw up." Her arms were wrapped around his neck as she couldn't keep her head up. She buried her face on his shoulder and let his carry her. She felt exhausted suddenly and was glad she barely had to hold onto him. His arms strong enough to lift her up and not falter.  
"It's alright." Arthur whispered as they reached the second floor. He effortlessly carried her to the guest room that was hers.

"Grace was right. It's my fault." He said as he laid her down in the bed. Her body feeling hot and burned. "I kept you out in the sun too long."

"It hurts." She said as her head ached and her skin felt tight and painful.

"Grace is going to bring up a cream for you." He whispered as she realized he was pulling off her too big pants and tucking her into bed.

She didn't remember much after Grace came in the room and made her drink water, take an aspirin and rubbed an ice cold cream over her skin. Immediately making the sting feel better.

~ When she woke up, it was night out. Her skin felt cool and soothed, and she knew she had slept for hours. Her body was stiff as she numbly thought to use the bathroom. She didn't look at her red, peeling face in the mirror as she used the toilet and took a cold bath.

Grace had mercifully left some sandwiches, water and best of all, more of the cream on the night stand. Ariadne rubbed it's soothing balm into her burn after she ate. Her dizziness easing as she finished the last crumb of her meal. She redressed in another old fashioned night dress and climbed back into bed.

She wanted nothing more then to drop off into sleep when a scream jerked her awake.

It was a loud, frightened cry and it made Ariadne sit up in bed and race to her door. It hadn't been her imagination. It wasn't a dream. It was real.

She waited with her hand on the nob, her heart ready to burst from her chest as another scream ripped through the night air.

Like she was possessed with a bravery she never felt, she threw open her door and raced down the hall. The screams belonged to a woman and overlapping her frightened wails, were the shouts of men.


	11. Chapter 11

11.

~ Ariadne reached the darkened landing to the fifth floor and heard the scream again.  
"Dom!" A man was shouting. "What's happening!"

"She's just having a bad night!" Dom shouted back.

"I could hear her screaming all the way from my room." The first man said. Ariadne stopped breathing as she realized the first voice belonged to Arthur.  
"Dom!" The woman screamed again. A desperate frightened cry.

"Mal, sweetheart, it's alright." Dom was saying soothingly.

"Maybe we should take her into the city." Another voice that sounded like James said.

Ariadne approached the voices carefully on silent feet. A door was left ajar and a light was on. It was the only light in the dark hallway and it beckoned to her.

"No, we just need to give her her medications." Dom was saying as Ariadne finally caught a glimpse of the inside of the room.

James and Phillipa were crowded in one corner. Phillipa was crying. James had a protective arm around her. Arthur was wearing his normal scowl.

"Dom, she needs to be in a nursing home. The Altimeters, she's a danger to herself." Arthur was saying.

"No." Cobb was shouting at him as an unseen woman was crying.

Ariadne cracked the door open a little and saw a frightening scene.

Crouched on the floor was an old woman. Her age was close to Grace as she held a bleeding arm. Tears running over her cheeks.

"Sweetheart?" Dom was saying gently to her. "It's okay. No one is mad."

"Dad?" Phillipa was saying. "Maybe Arthur is right. Mom needs to be in a home. You can't take care of her here anymore."

"I said no, Phillipa." Dom growled.

"Don't yell at her, Dom." The strange old lady cried. She seemed so feeble and lost as Dom held her close.  
"I'm sorry, sweetheart." he was saying.

"Dad?" Phillipa was saying.

"It's going to be alright." Dom said to the old woman as he held her in a loving embrace. The old lady resting her head on his shoulder. The two of them looking more like lovers then an old woman and a much younger man.

"Dad?" Phillipa said again more urgent.

Dom turned and suddenly all eyes were on Ariadne. She hadn't realized she had come into the room.

"She can't be here." The strange old lady in Dom's arms said as Arthur pulled the intruder out of the room.  
"_Get out!_" The old woman screamed at her. "Get away from here! Their wrong! Their all wrong! These men are cursed!_ Cursed!_" She shrieked as Arthur held fast to her hand and forced her quickly down the stairs.

"Who was that?" Ariadne cried. Her body trembling. She felt she had seen an extremely privet and horrible family moment. One that didn't make sense.

"James and Phillipa's mother." Arthur said briskly.  
"What?" Ariadne breathed. "She was hurt!"

"She fell out of bed. She had Altimeters. She'll be fine."

"Arthur!" Ariadne shouted and jerked her hand free.

"This is a _family_ matter." Arthur said turning back to her. His anger boiling up to the surface. "I've indulged you long enough. In the morning, I want you gone." He said pulling open her bedroom door and scowling at her as she stood glaring at him.

"Phillipa called Dom 'Dad'." Ariadne said feeling insulted by Arthur.

"You misheard." Arthur said quickly.

"No I didn't." Ariadne said. "I can believe that woman is their mother, but Dom wasn't acting like any _son_ I've ever seen."

"This is not your concern." Arthur said warningly. His voice like ice.

~ Ariadne didn't sleep much and was dressed in the clothes she had arrived in when the sun broke over the stained glass windows of her room.

The only person she wanted to say goodbye to was Grace and she wasn't sure which room was her's. She wandered down the grand staircase of the silent castle and finally ended up in the dinning room. She hated to leave without a word to the kind old lady. Who she honestly believed cared for her, but she didn't want to see anyone. Especially not Arthur.

She was shocked to see Eames sitting in the dinning room.

"I was hoping to say goodbye to your grandmother." Ariadne said feeling nervous around this man she barely saw any of. He smiled at her and raised up a bottle of wine he had been drinking with no glass.

"I'm sure Gracie would have loved that." Eames said relaxing in the dinning chair. "She really liked you."

Ariadne felt her heart turn over as she realized Eames was talking about Grace in the past tense.

"Eames?" She said softly. "Where's Grace?"

"My Gracie passed away last night." Eames said looking at Ariadne with red eyes.

Ariadne felt her eyes sting with tears.

"I'm so sorry, Eames." She said honestly. "I... I really liked her."

"I know you did." He said. "She talked about you a lot. She was happy you were here. I know she would want you to stay for the funeral."

"Oh, um." Ariadne said feeling ashamed as the tears fell out of her eyes. "Arthur, he wants me to leave."

"Arthur." Eames grumbled. "Arthur isn't Lord of this castle. Not anymore."

"Eames, I should go." Ariadne said. "I'm so sorry about your grandmother."

Eames laughed.

"Gracie, wasn't my grandmother anymore then James and Phillipa are Dom's older siblings. Don't you get it?" Eames barked, suddenly in a rage. He stood up and looked menacingly at her.

Ariadne took a small step back. Feeling very afraid of this strange man all the sudden.

"We _are_ cursed." Eames told her. "Were cursed to watch those we love wither away and die. Were cursed, never to follow after them."

She almost screamed as she saw Eames pull a pistol from behind his back. Eames looked at it longingly.  
"I wish this was the answer. That I never have to bury another child." He said.

It happened in slow motion. Eames putting the gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

~ She couldn't stop screaming as Arthur was suddenly there. Pulling her away from the ghastly scene of Eames bleeding out on the dinning room floor. Arthur was holding her as she screamed and cried till she was too tired to stay awake.

~ She woke up in the blue and white guest room again. Feeling, once more, that she had slept too long. Her body felt too heavy and sedated. Like she might have been drugged.

"I'm sorry, Ariadne." Arthur was saying as she looked around her darkened bedroom. "I never meant for you to be drawn into this... madness."  
"Eames is _dead_." She said to the shadows. Sensing Arthur was in the room with her, but unable to see him.

A floor lamp snapped on and she could see Arthur sitting comfortably in a chair across from her bed.

"Eames, is fine." He said. His speech slurred slightly. The young man had obviously been drinking.

"I _saw_ him." Ariadne argued. "I saw him shoot himself in the head."

"He's fine." Arthur said simply. "You must have dreamed it."

"I didn't dream it!" Ariadne snapped. "I also didn't dream that someone tried to come into my room either. It was that woman wasn't it? The one you keep locked on the fifth floor."

She was too exhausted to get out of the bed. Her reserves of energy keeping her sitting up. She lay back down in the comfortable bedding.

"Grace... she's dead." Ariadne said petulantly. Hoping maybe she had only dreamed that.

"Yes." Arthur said numbly. "She passed away in her sleep last night. We always knew Eames would take his... grandmother's death hard."

"He said she wasn't his grandmother." Ariadne said.

Arthur's face was immobile. Like the stones of the castle, it was dark and cold.

"Grace was Eames' grandmother." He said numbly.

He stood suddenly. His feet unsteady.

"This... this is why I had to send you away. To keep you protected from all of this." He said in a whisper.  
"Arthur?" She called after him as he left her alone in the darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

12.

~ It was before dawn when she finally woke up. She had somehow slept all day and night without further incident. Her mind still felt tired, and too much had happened.

She pulled herself out of the bed and stumbled into her shoes. Arthur must have given her something to help her sleep and put her to bed with her clothes still on. The vision of Eames commuting suicide in front of her, still flashed before her each time she closed her eyes. It had been real and Arthur could never convince her it was just a dream.

She had a plan. A way to prove that something was wrong with what Arthur was telling her.

On soundless feet, she went downstairs. The castle feeling full of ghosts who were silent and hiding from her.

Night time crickets and morning birds were singing in perfect harmony as she hurried over to the stables.

Perseus was waiting for her. His tail flicking as he trotted to her.

"You just take it slow and steady." Ariadne warned him as she stood on a chair and climbed on his back. Perseus seemed to understand and allowed her to climber on his back without a saddle. She lightly rested her hands on his neck and he began a slow, steady trot to the trail she and Arthur had gone down.

The woods were eerie in the predawn night. An owl hooted over them as Perseus' white coat seem to glow magically. She almost missed the faint trail that led to the cemetery and shivered from the sight of the old gates.

Perseus waited patiently as she fell off his back and onto the soft grass. The cemetery was unlocked and it's gates standing open and waiting for her. She slipped inside and could barely make out the head stones as the dawn poked through the trees.

"Rose Blunt." She whispered as her hands passed over a weathered headstone. The dates showing she died in 1845. There were others who died in 1845 as well. The family that died during the storm. There were plenty of stones before that. The oldest ones so weathered and worn she couldn't make out the names.

"Andrew Blunt." Ariadne whispered. Looking over the stones. "Andrew Blunt." She said again. Something was wrong. There was no Andrew Blunt. The Civil War solider had surely returned to Blackwood Castle. His uniform still hung in a close on the second floor.

She put her hand on Drews Blunt's head stone. The poor artist was only 17 when she threw herself off the tower.

She spotted a shinny new head stone. One that had been readied for Grace. Prepared for her death and burial at the Blunt Family Cemetery. The date of her death not yet carved into the stone. Her grave freshly dug and the old woman laid to rest.

_Grace Eames_

_ Cherished Daughter_

A quick, funeral while Ariadne had been sleeping.

"Cherished daughter?" She repeated running a hand over the stone. She spotted a stone next to Grace's. Her mother's. A woman named Annabel Eames. A woman who died in 1925.

Where was Grace's father? Why wasn't he buried next to her?

She shook her head. She had to keep her mind focused.  
"Archibald." Ariadne whispered. "Where's Archibald?"

If he was still alive, and so old, surely he would have a stone ready like Grace had done. Arthur had said that all of the Blunt family was buried here. Where was Archibald's stone?

She spied another newer stone close to Grace's. Hoping it was Archibald's she was shocked to see another name.

_Malory Cobb. _

_Beloved wife and mother._

Her date of birth was almost seventy years ago but her death date had not yet been fixed to the stone. The ground where she was to rest was hard and undisturbed.

"Dom called her Mal." Ariadne whispered. Feeling her heart race.

Malory was a beloved wife, where was her husband's stone?

She noticed there was a strange gap. There was only a smattering of relatives after 1845. A few men and women who died at the turn of the century. Mostly from old age. Annabel Eames being the most recent before Grace.

Where were Arthur's parents? Grace said they died a long time ago. They had to have died _after_ 1925. Where was James and Phillipa's father? If their mother was that old already, sure their father was already dead and buried here. Where was he? Where was Eames' parents? Where was Grace's husband? Where was Andrew? Where was Archibald?

The sound of hoof beats made her heat stop. She could sense that someone was coming for her.

~ Quicker then she thought possible, she ducked down behind Grace's stone and scrambled out of the cemetery. Hiding behind a tree as she watched Arthur and Dom ride up to the gray. Perseus snorting rudely at Arthur as the man dismounted and stalked angrily into the cemetery.

Ariadne tried not to breath too heavy as she was so close to her pursuers. She was afraid of them as Dom looked over the green trees and tricky light.

"She's not here!" Arthur growled as he stormed out of the cemetery.

"Maybe the horse threw her." Dom offered. "She didn't saddle him. Maybe she fell somewhere."

"We would have spotted her." Arthur said. His voice cold and angry. Ariadne trembled behind the tree and she dared not peek out at them.

She crouched lower as Arthur started shouting her name.  
"Ariadne!" He shouted. His voice making even the birds stop their singing in fear.

"Arthur, she must have gone back to the house." Dom said shifting in his saddle. The two men giving a halfhearted search of the woods. Ariadne creeping low in the tall bushes. Only Perseus watching her with interest.

"She rode him here, Dom." Arthur said.  
"Arthur, she's not here." Dom said. "She's back at the house. Let's go." Dom said pulling his horse around and cantering out of the forest. Arthur stayed to a little longer. His eyes searching for Ariadne. She stayed perfectly still. Laying on the moss floor. Praying he wouldn't spot her.

She heard a slap and a horse whinnied. Thundering hooves beating on the ground as the animal ran back towards the castle.

An inner voice told her to stay still. Don't move an inch. That Arthur was still there, waiting for her. Waiting for her to jump out of the bushes and give herself away. She listened to the birds singing and finally she heard Arthur mounting the bay. It's hooves making a distinct noise as it trotted away.

She waited for a long time before daring to peek out of her hiding place.

Arthur and the horses were gone. She was alone.

~ '_He must have slapped Perseus and sent him back home riderless._' She mused as she walked slowly back tot he castle. '_He thought that would trick me_.'

She intended to make a roundabout way to her car and leave. Not say a word to James and Phillipa. Not ask after Eames or thank these strange people for their kindness. She wondered if they would let her leave. If the women on the fifth floor had seen too much to and was forced to stay there. How many people had seen too much for this place? How many where tainted by the curse of the Blunt Family?

No one stopped her as she approached her car. She was glad to see it. The old beat up thing that her mother had bought used ten years ago. She unlocked the door and slid the key in the ignition.

Nothing. The engine didn't even turn over. Her car was dead.

She heard a knock on her window and screamed.

The face of a dead man was staring back at her.

**~ I'm a little torn. I'm almost done with this story but the ending I have in mind is a little dark, not a happy A&A ending at all. So I would like some opinions on how I should end this. ~**


	13. Chapter 13

13.

~ "It's alright, Darling. It's just me." Eames said from outside her window. "I disconnected your battery. A bit of an adventure for me. Not really handy with automobiles." He said.

She stared at him in shock and amazement.  
"Eames?" She gasped looking at him. There was no bruising, no obvious trauma to his head at all. She _had_ seen him shoot himself. She knew that was real.

"I saw..." She gasped.

"I know what you saw, Darling." Eames said looking uncomfortable. "Can you come back into the castle and we can talk about it?"

"No!" She shouted glad she remembered to lock her door.

"I need to show you something, Please? Arthur and Dom will be back soon. Their at the beach. I told them I saw you there. We haven't got much time." He said. His voice pleading and honest.

~ She followed Eames up the walk and back into the Castle.

"James and Phillipa are upstairs with their mother. They don't know what's happening." Eames explained.

"What _is_ happening, Eames?" Ariadne asked as he quickly lead her through the foyer. She followed him down a hallway to Arthur's study.

She glanced up at the large portrait of Lady Blunt over the fire place, as Eames went to Arthur's desk.

"I knew he had one of these machines in here." Eames muttered looking at the computer. "Can't escape progress. I won't tolerate a phone in any home I'm in."

"Why not?" Ariadne said. Looking at him in shock as he pried open a desk drawer and pulled free a metal box.

"Because, when I found out my sons were killed, it was from a phone call." He said. His voice serious and filled with raw pain.  
"I'm sorry." She whispered. The tragedy must have been recent. His grandmother's death following after the death of his son's.

"I can't bury any more of my children." He explained. "I can't be forced to live this..._ life_ anymore. No matter how much I deserve it."

"Eames?" She asked as he forced open the lock on the metal door.

"Arthur, refuses to tell you the truth, but you need to know. You deserve to know." He said pulling free a photograph and handing it to her.

The picture didn't make any sense. It was of her and Arthur. She was six years old and sitting on his lap. They were in the rose garden Grace said she and her father planted. Arthur was smiling down at her and Blackwood castle stood behind them.

Arthur, looked exactly the same as he had just an hour ago in the woods. Almost twenty years had passed, and yet he looked exactly the same.

"This can't be." She whispered. Not able to take her eyes off the picture. "How can this be?"

"Arthur, is really Archibald Blunt." Eames said. "On paper anyway. We have to keep changing our names, our identities every 50 years or so. It's not hard, we make out fake birth certificates and wait 20 years. That's why you never saw Archibald Blunt, except on paper." Eames explained. "On paper, Archibald Blunt is a man in his 80's."

Ariadne couldn't think.

"This doesn't make any sense." She breathed.

"The _curse_, Ariadne." Eames whispered. "The curse."

"Eames!" Arthur shouted as he burst into the room. His face looking livid as Dom followed behind. For once, Ariadne stood her ground. Unafraid of him as Dom looked worriedly at her.

"Eames, what have you done?" Arthur whispered as he spied the opened metal box.

Arthur looked at Ariadne then. His face frightened looking.

"What are you?" She breathed.

**~ "We want a happy ending! OMG!" LOL. Romantic Gothic is not supposed to be ****happy****, its supposed to be ****sad****! Oh well, I'll make it happy, don't worry. And I ****will**** explain how they got cursed. Just be patient. Love you guys! ~ **


	14. Chapter 14

14.

**18 years ago...**

~ Arthur was riding his newest prize. A beautiful black creature he had named Penelope. She trotted along the woods with nimble ease and seemed to read his mind as all he had to do was shift slightly in the saddle to make her change pace.

Dom had found her from a breeder and sent her to the castle as a surprise.

Penelope had taken to life at the castle and grounds well and if he had showed her, she would have won prizes.

As it had been for the past 130 years, Arthur had kept to himself as best he could. Hardly ever leaving the castle's grounds. He rode daily and always alone. His cousin Dom was in the city with his wife Mal and their grown children; James and Phillipa.

He had been lonely in the castle, with Eames and his daughter Grace in Europe for past few decades, but he had always been lonely.

~ A twig snapped and Penelope startled and threw him.

He barely remembered to roll as he hit the hard ground. Such a fall might have kill another man, but sadly, didn't kill him.

He was laughing as he picked himself up. Penelope was stepping cautiously away from him. Her big brown eyes looking frightened.

"It's alright." He said to the horse. "Come back."

He had to smile at his own complacency. He hadn't been thrown from a horse since his Calvary days. And that had been in battle. Penelope whinnied nervously and edged away from him. The creature scared or playing games with her rider.

"I think your just looking to break my heart." Arthur said as he gently coaxed her back to him.

A twig snapped again and the horse shifted anxiously.

Arthur turned and saw what was causing her distresses. A figure, covered in dirt and mud stood still on the trail in front of them. The child was barely four or five and his arms and legs were too skinny and his clothing torn and ragged.

"Hello?" Arthur said to the phantom. Half of him frightened it might fly away. An unknowing sense that this thing before him wasn't right.  
"I'm hungry." a voice chirped out of the child's mouth.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't a ghost, or evil spirit. It was just a lost, frightened human being.

"What's your name?" He asked the child. "Where are your parents?" He asked when he didn't respond.

"I'm hungry." The child spoke again. The only words it seemed to know.

~ The child was filthy. Covered from head to toe in a coat of mud. Arthur lifted the innocent up on Penelope, who didn't like the idea, and re-mounted. With the thin, muddy creature sitting in front, Arthur kicked Penelope into a canter back to the castle

~ He was glad Dom came with supplies every two weeks or more. Arthur enjoyed gardening and the kitchen gardens had given him plenty of vegetables, but the weather was turning colder and he knew they wouldn't keep longer.

Not that he _needed_ to eat. His diet was mostly from habit.

"Eat slow." he warned the messy child as it gobbled toast and peanut butter. Slurping down milk and greedily eating everything Arthur put before it.

"Where are your parents?" Arthur asked again.

The child didn't answer. Only looking at Arthur with unusually big brown eyes.

~ After the child finished eating, Arthur took him upstairs for a bath. The coat of mud was bothering him. He didn't like a mess.

He ran a hot bath and the child watched him, very interested. It wasn't till after he started helping his guest undress that he realized mud had disguised a little girl, not a boy.

Pushing away the slight embarrassment at the situation, he sat close to the tub and carefully washed free the dirt, twigs and mud from her long brown hair. The little girl wincing as he had to comb the snarls from her hair, but didn't complain.

"Are you going to tell me your name, little lady?" Arthur asked gently as he dressed her in some of Phillipa's old clothes. The little girl was far too skinny and her legs and arms were cut up from the forest.

She said nothing as she played with one of Phillipa's old dolls.

~ What to do? He couldn't go to the police. They would ask questions. Who was he? Archibald Blunt? That identity was in his 60's by now and the authorities wouldn't buy the ancient driver's license he had when he had bought the Rolls. The man's picture on that driver's license was Arthur, but it was issued over 40 years ago and he looked exactly the same.

He could drive the child to a hospital and leave her there. Wait outside till she was found. He didn't want to do that. The quite little girl was sleeping peacefully in the old nursery. A nursery that had been vowed would never be used again.

~ "Arthur?" Dom's voice came over the phone. "You never call, what's wrong?"

"Dom, something's happened. I need your help." Arthur said.

~ "Keep her? Are you out of your mind?" Mal had asked. Dom's wife was still stunning at 65. Her husband, Arthur's first cousin Dom, didn't look a day over 36. Even though he was much older then his wife.  
"Why not?" Arthur said hearing the child rustle around in his closet. It was raining hard outside and the little girl loved to play in his closet. Coming out in his old tuxes and shoes smiling at him. She amused him at her play.

He surprised even himself that he had allowed her in his closet. He never let anyone in there.

"Why not?" Eames repeated with a sarcastic laugh. "Haven't you been paying attention? Don't you remember Drews? Don't you remember my boys? Hell, James and Phillipa are going to have to start passing as Dom's _older_ brother and sister soon."

Arthur glared at his other first cousin. Eames and his daughter Grace had hurried back from London at the news of what had happened. Things like this just didn't happen at Blackwood. Certainly not to Arthur.  
"I know all that, Eames." Arthur grumbled.

"Well, I think it's splendid." Grace said. She was just as old as Mal, but contained none of the self restraint and poise Dom's wife held.

Grace had always been youthful and it seemed unfair she was surrounded by old men trapped in young men's bodies, when she was a young woman trapped in an old woman's body.

"Gracie, you will never know what it's like to watch your child grow old and die before you." Eames said to her. Her father looking healthy and barely into his 30s.  
"Papa, I respect your suffering over the years, but your lucky to have loved someone. Arthur has no one. He's all alone in this horrible place." Grace argued.

Arthur wasn't listening to them. He heard the child come out of the closet and smiled to see her clumsily walking in his Union Calvary coat, complete with the hat that covered her head.

He laughed at the precious sight. The little girl seeming very pleased she had dressed herself so well.  
"Ariadne, are you ready to fight the rebels?" He asked teasingly. She grinned and nodded. His hat flopping down further on her head.  
"Ariadne?" Mal asked.  
"It's what I've been calling her." Arthur said kneeling down to meet the child's eyes.

"More of your Greek mythology?" Grace teased with a little smile.

Ariadne smiled at Arthur and held up a richly tasseled sword he had used in the war. Mostly for decoration and formal ceremonies, but it was still sharp and deadly.

"Ariadne! Give me that!" He laughed prying the weapon from her little hands.

"Your letting her play with swords now?" Mal almost shouted at him.

"Forgot it was in there." Arthur grumbled as Ariadne looked worriedly at him. "I'll put it up."

"Arthur, you know that we need to find her family." Dom said soothingly.

"I _know_ that she was in those woods for a long time. There are no news of a missing child fitting her description. The land is too big for her to have wandered from the main road."

"Arthur." Dom said more sternly.  
"How would we explain ourselves to the police?" Arthur said picking Ariadne up with one arm. The little girl with the long brown hair smiled at him. Silently putting his old Calvary hat on his head.

He looked over her contently.

How could he let her go?


	15. Chapter 15

15.

~ "But you did let me go." Ariadne whispered.  
"That was mine and Mal's doing." Dom interjected soberly. "We convinced Arthur not to expose you to this life. That it would hurt you and him. That you would be better off with parents who... weren't like this." He explained with difficulty.

Arthur was slouched in a chair by the window. He looked exhausted and lost in thought.

"Did you really look for my family?" She asked Dom, feeling tears were eminent.

"Yes. We sent out your picture to news papers, radio and on the television. We never said you had been found. Just your picture and a phone number. We never had a response." He said sadly.  
"How long did I live here?" She asked.

"A little over a year." Dom said as Arthur looked out the window, his eyes sad.

"You sent me away?" She asked.

"We had to. We found a couple who wanted a little girl. We set up a trust for your support. The adoption was technically illegal, but there are ways around that." Dom told her.

She looked back at the photograph of her and Arthur. He had the youthful smile on his face as he held her in his lap. He looked happy. She recognized herself at six years old. She was dressed in a pink sun dress. The same dress she wore in the first picture Arthur had given her of her and her new parents. It had to be about the time of her adoption, if not the same day. But Arthur looked the same in this old picture as he did now. It was impossible.

She looked up at a large window, catching the reflection of all three men in the study.  
Dom chuckled. Reading her mind.

"No, were not vampires." He said. "We can go out into the sun and eat normal food and all that."

She nodded and felt foolish. Of course they weren't vampires. None of what they were claiming could be real.  
"Look, I'm not stupid." She said at last. "This is crazy. You photo shopped this." She said feeling angry.

"I wish we had." Dom said coolly.

"Did we photo shop this?" Eames said roughly pulling out more pictures from the metal box and slapping them on the desk.

Arthur remained perfectly still as Ariadne looked over the weathered and obviously aged images.

They showed Dom, Eames and Arthur in various versions of black,white and sepia. The oldest looking one depicting Arthur in a Union officer's uniform.

"That was from the Civil War." Eames said. He pulled free more photos. Showing the three men with women and children around them.

"This is Grace." He said pointing to a black and white photo of himself holding a blond little girl. Their clothing and the style of the print looked like it was from the 30's.

"Before Grace was born, I had another wife. She gave me two sons. They were killed in the Great War." Eames said. His voice raw with emotion.

"It can't be real." Ariadne whispered. None of this could be real.

And yet, the feel of the photograph was real. It was faded with age and made of heavy, old fashioned paper. These weren't faked.

"This is Mal? Your wife?" She asked Dom holding up a picture of a handsome couple.

Dom nodded.

"It's been hard for her. She grows old, I don't. People... think things when were out in public." He explained.

"It was just the same with Gracie." Eames said. "When she was a baby, she was my daughter no question. Then when she was a teenager, she had to pose as my little sister. It got strange when people started to think she was my wife."

Ariadne was shaking her head as she looked over the pictures of Eames and Grace in the 40's. They looked more like a couple then a father and daughter.

"Mal wasn't my first wife. We have been married before and had other children. Only to watch them grow old and die and leave us behind." Cobb said.

"We had an outsider who came to live with us in 1880." Eames said. "Our cousin who was orphaned. She realized what we were and it drove her mad. She threw herself off the tower, convinced we sold our souls to the devil."

"After that, we vowed never to bring an outsider into this life." Dom said. "It's not fair to them. All of this, has been hard on Mal and our children."

"James and Phillipa." Ariadne whispered. Dom nodded.

It was real. It was all real.

"How?" She asked at last. "How did this happen?" She asked.

Arthur seemed to snap out of his trance and stood.

"We don't know." He said curtly.

"Of course you know. How could you not know?" She said back to him.

Dom and Eames looked to Arthur.

"Your the three sons aren't you? You were cursed by the witch?" She accused feeling sick to her stomach. "Your almost 200 years old?" She breathed feeling faint.

"Yes." Dom admitted sadly.  
"There was no witch." Arthur barked. "She wasn't a witch." He whispered fearfully.

"This didn't happen, just because." Ariadne said quickly. Her mind numb from this impossible information.

The men stood as still as statues.

"So you gave me away so that I wouldn't find out about the curse?" She asked sensing they wouldn't speak as to why they were, what they were.

"We gave you away to protect you. It wasn't fair to bring you into this life. To have you grow old and have us remain the same. It's why we vowed to never marry again. To not have anymore children. It's too hard on those we love." Eames explained.

"It was very hard for Arthur to let you go." Dom said looking at the sad man by the window. "We found a couple who we thought would take good care of you. We thought it would be best."

"Then you showed up here, demanding answers we couldn't give." Arthur said coldly.


	16. Chapter 16

16.

**16 years ago...**

~ Ariadne was running in the rose garden. Arthur had her dressed in a charming pink sun dress. Her eyes were bright and happy among the roses Grace and Eames had planted 50 years before.

"She's such a happy child." The lovely dark haired woman said sitting in front of Mal and Dom.

"Yes, she is." Mal said politely as Arthur watched the little girl play from his spot in front of the window.

Dom and Mal had finally convinced him to let the child go. They had searched for her family but it was if she feel from the sky. In the year and a half since he found her, she had grown healthy and happy. She seemed to belong here.

But Dom was right. Drews' suicide almost 100 years before, had taught the men what happened to outsiders who came too close to this cursed place.

"We can arrange a support of forty thousand a year until she's 21." Dom said casually.

Money meant nothing to them. Once the rich were rich, they tended to stay rich. The Blunt family had always been very well off and Arthur was very adapted to playing the stock market.

"Very generous. Thank you." The adoptive father said.

"May we ask why your not keeping your daughter, sir?" The dark haired woman asked to Arthur. "You obviously have the means."

For convenience sake, it was easier to tell the adoptive parents that Arthur was Ariadne's father. Mal was too old to pretend to be anyone's mother and Ariadne had a natural trust and affection to the somber young man who had found her.

"Her mother passed away. She needs a mother and father." Arthur lied with difficulty as Ariadne ran around the rose garden. The pink hair ribbons he had so carefully tied in her hair that morning coming out.

The child had lived in the castle with him for over a year now. He had taught her her alphabet, how to ride a horse and was literally the reason he woke up in the mornings. She had brought him happiness he had been so afraid of having.

Now, what would he do? What would he do tomorrow without her here?

~ "Ariadne?" Arthur called to the child as they grown ups went out into the garden. The child still didn't talk very much and was shy around strangers. She ran to Arthur and he plucked her up in his arms with ease.

He sat with the child in his lap and didn't notice the photograph Mal snapped. The old woman wiping away tears.

"Ariadne, you going to stay with these people." Arthur said to her gently. "Their very nice and will take good care of you."

"But then I come back with you." Ariadne said in that chirping, bird like voice.

"No, sweetheart." Arthur said sadly. "Your going to stay with them."

"I belong with you." Ariadne said as if stating a fact. "I'll come back."

"Ariadne." The adoptive mother said kindly. "I really want you to stay with us. We have lots of kids in our neighborhood for you to play with."

The little girl looked away from the kind woman and turned her head into Arthur's shirt.

"We have a room ready for you and you'll go to a school. Would you like that?" She asked.

"No." Ariadne said. "I belong here."

It took a great deal of persuading and codling on the woman's part, but Ariadne warmed up to the couple. Long enough for the child to stand still for a picture of the new family.

Arthur was trying hard not to look at them. The couple was nice enough and he was sure Ariadne would be happy with them. But his own selfish heart didn't want to let her go.

Finally, it was growing late and the couple wanted to leave with their new daughter.

"No!" Ariadne said petulantly. "I belong here!" She had tried to run to Arthur when the mother held her fast.

"You come home with us." She said sweetly. Her face pleading. Wanting this little girl to love her.

"No! I belong with you!" Ariadne cried at Arthur as he walked away. Not able to stand it anymore.

"Honey, your going to be happy with us!" The woman pleaded as the adoptive father lifted the little girl up against her screams.  
"No!" Ariadne cried as Arthur shut the heavy doors to his study. He could still hear the child's cries as the family loaded her in the car and drove away.

"I belong here!" She screamed. Her cherub like face red with tears.


	17. Chapter 17

17.

~ Ariadne had found herself talking to Arthur, Dom and Eames well into the night. It seemed a relief to James and Phillipa as their father told them Ariadne knew the truth.

"At least now we don't have to call you by your first name anymore." James said patting his father on the back. James had a head full of silver, gray hair where Dom had none. It was strange to think the older man was really the son.

~ Summer had come over Blackwood Castle. In the little cemetery, Ariadne placed the last of the spring wild flowers and roses over Grace's grave. Eames had stayed at Blackwood, but complained daily he would go back to England or travel soon.

Ariadne had helped James and Phillipa convince Dom to put his wife into a nursing home. The staff thinking he was her youngest son or perhaps her grandson.

Arthur was waiting outside the cemetery with the horses. Not wanting to venture inside a place where he knew all the dead there.

Perseus seemed to be her horse now and he waited for her expectantly. She had become a much better rider these days. Arthur taking her for long rides over the grounds everyday.

She had stayed at Blackwood. Her old life suddenly seeming not so important anymore. She belonged here. One day had turned into two so easily and before she knew it, spring had been replaced with summer. Her time with Arthur was easy, and complicated, now that she knew the truth.

"Come here and put your hat on." He said once she had left the little cemetery and walked over to her gray. "Can't have Grace jumping out of her grave and yelling at us about sunburn."

"She won't yell at _us_, she'll yell at _you_." Ariadne teased.

"Oh, feisty!" Arthur said with a smile.

Ariadne gave him a curtsey and easily saddled herself on Perseus. The gray barely having to move to accommodate his rider these days.

She sat still as Arthur secured a wide, floppy hat on her head. He looked her over before leaning over his mount and kissing her sweetly on the lips. A simple kiss of hopeful new love.

She smiled back at him. Glad to have him happy again.  
"So you can't get sunburned, catch a cold, drown or starve to death?" She asked still finding it hard to believe.

"Nope." He said cheerfully. "We can't get shot or blown up either. Trust me, I was in enough wars to prove it."

"You tried to kill yourself?" She asked worriedly as the horses trotted down the trail.

"We all did when we figured out what had happened. It took a few years to realize we weren't aging." Arthur said sadly. "We shot ourselves, tied chains to our bodies and tried to drown ourselves. Nothing worked. We had to send the servants away because they were noticing we looked the same after a while. It was easier after all the confusion of the Civil War. People forgot us for a while."  
"Do you still want to die?" She asked. He turned and looked at her. His face sad but hopeful.

"One day." He said. His face broke into a smile. "But not today."

She smiled as he kicked the bay into a canter and she was made to chase after him.

~ "It's kind of strange you have to admit." Ariadne said as the sat on top of their waterfall.

"Of course it is." He agreed. "But what specifically do you mean?"

"Well, I mean you took care of me as a child. And now were like this." She said.

He turned to her and kissed her. They had made love by the falls. It had been as easy as anything she had ever done. Arthur showing he loved her over and over again. He was smiling much more these days, and finally seemed like the young man he was curse to be. She knew she had brought him a sense of peace and happiness.

A rare moment of warmth in a winter that lasted too long.

"Well, it's not what I planed on either, but I'll take it." He said kissing her again.

She smiled at him as they looked at the castle.

"Your going to send me away again, aren't you?" She asked, not looking at him.

He sighed. His face guilty.

"It's not fair to you. To bring you into this word. I'm trying to do the right thing." He explained with difficulty.

"Like when you sent me away the first time?" She asked.  
"Yes." He said sadly. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but it was what was best for you. It would have been selfish if I had kept you."

"Arthur, it's alright to be selfish." She whispered.

"No it's not. You'll grow old while I stay young. You'll hate me for it. You'll resent it. I've seen it happen before." He said. A coldness in his voice.  
"I don't want to go. I think I was destined to come back here. To be with you." She told him trying to catch his eye.

"I would love keep you here, with me, forever. But We don't have forever, I do. I would have to watch you grow old and leave me. Knowing I could never follow after you." He said. "I want to make you my wife, to have children with you. But It wouldn't be fair to you, or me."

She smiled to herself at some long forgotten memory.

"So Dom and Eames got married and had children, and you didn't?" She asked.

"No." He said simply. "I knew what our immortality meant. I couldn't bear to love someone and watch them leave this world without me."

"You never fell in love?" She asked.  
"Oh, I loved someone once." He said looking towards the ocean. "But it was a long time ago. Before this life."

"What happened to her?" She asked, looking at him expectantly.  
"It wasn't meant to be." He said sadly.

~ The watched the sun sink into the ocean. The air turning cool.  
"We should head back." He said at last.

"Arthur." She said. He turned to her as she took a deep breath for courage. "Am I really the only girl you ever brought here?" She asked.

"Of course." He said with a laugh and immediately his face fell as her's darkened. Shadow passing over Ariadne's eyes.

Arthur stopped breathing as he saw her features change. The chimes of horrible memories making his bones rattle.

"I think we both know that's not true." She said in a voice not her own.


	18. Chapter 18

18.

**1845...**

~ "I hope it's always like this." Ada said from her comfortable perch on top of the falls. It was another summer day and she was enjoying the warmth of sun and the impromptu swim by their secret place.

"How do you mean?" Arthur asked. He turned to her and smiled. His features so much more relaxed here then when she had seen him in the village with his family.

The trees on this summer day were much smaller in the surrounding forest. They could see the dark castle and massive rose garden much easier from their secret view above their waterfall.

Arthur looked worriedly back at his boyhood home. His home, his prison.

"After were married. I hope everyday is like this." Ada corrected. She combed long fingers through her jet black hair.

The girl by his side was a beauty. Her features were enhanced by hair the color of pitch and dark brown eyes that seemed to peer into the soul. Her figure was small and pleasing and her skin was very fair. Perhaps it was her shocking beauty that had caused the jealous women in the village to whisper about her behind their hands. To accuse her of bewitching the young men and even old men. Men that rightfully belonged to them.

"I hope so to." Arthur said turning back to her. His face relaxed and happy now that he was away from the castle.

Ada smiled at the young Heir.

"Have you talked to your father about us?" She asked him.

"Not yet. Time isn't right." Arthur said. His face pulling into a worried line. Even though he was a grown man, he was still treated like a boy by her father. He wasn't married yet because it was a prospect he had put off for as long as he had been able. His family wanted him to marry a wealthy heiress from New York who Arthur couldn't stand. Who was just as empty and cold as the rest of his family.

While out riding one day, he had caught Ada trespassing on their land and fell under her spell. Perhaps the villagers had been right and she did have some kind of power over men. He had fallen for her as if she really were some type of enchantress. He never wanted to be without this strange beauty. This woman who made him forget the pressures and difficulties of his family. Forget their coldness, if only for a while.

"Your going to have to tell him you don't want to marry some socialite." Ada said gently running her long fingers through his hair. "That you want to marry me."

Arthur turned into her contact.  
"I _do_ want to marry you." Arthur whispered sadly. "It's not that easy. With my father, it never is. My cousins Eames and Dom can marry who they want. Their not the heirs to the title. Certain things are expected of me. I can't be the man I want."

"Your free as any other." Ada said confidently. "Your have your schooling done. You can leave Blackwood." Ada told him.

Arthur said nothing.

"Is it the money? You don't want to leave that? Not even for me?" She asked.

"I would leave it all for you." Arthur said. "I just would rather face the devil himself then my father."

"We can talk to him together." Ada offered. No one could say his beloved wasn't brave.

"No." Arthur snapped. He sat up straighter. "You know how people talk about you in the village."

"I don't care about that." Ada said. "Just because I have no family to recommend me or great fortune, I can marry who I like. Love who I like."

Arthur smiled as she kissed him.

~ Arthur had taught Ada to ride since he had discovered her and hid her from the wrath of a local woman who had accused her of witchcraft. A simple misunderstanding because the woman's son had declared his love for a poor girl who had no right to be loved by anyone respectable.

Arthur knew Ada didn't have to cast any spell on the youth to have him fall helplessly in love with her. She didn't have to do a thing to make any man want her. That was Ada's only crime. His beloved had a kind heart and that soon rendered him helpless to her. He had hidden her first in the stables and then the castle.

He wanted nothing more then to protect her from the ignorant villagers who wanted to hurt her. He had found himself becoming closer to her as the days and weeks went by. His feeling for her growing as they spent hours together in their secret swimming hole. Planing their lives together as soon as they were away from his father.

~ There were over 100 servants on the grand estate. It was hard to sneak Ada back into the castle without anyone noticing, but with Eames and Dom's help, Ada was clad like a boy and brought inside.

"Now, I have to go down to dinner. Then I _will _talk to my father." Arthur was saying as he pulled the laughing girl into his arms, kissing her. The room he had hidden her in was near the tower. A place the servants were forbidden to go. It was the safest place for his beloved to hide.

"Arthur, come on." Dom said to his cousin.

Dom was still single like Arthur, but his mother had been the old Lord Blunt's daughter as had Eames'. Arthur was the only son of an only son. He alone was the heir to Blackwood and the family treated him like a commodity instead of a person.

He had been instructed what to do, what to learn, how to act and above all, who he must be united with to ensure the reputation of such a great family.  
"Come and get me when you do. I want to meet him. He'll like me, I promise." Ada said as Arthur's cousin pushed him out of the room.

Arthur smiled. One of the rare smiles he had in the castle walls.

~ "Your crazy, you realize." Dom was saying as he helped his cousin with his tie. The Blunts always dressed for dinner. The young men had shooed away the Valet so they could speak in privet.

"I know I am." Arthur said with a smile. "I love her. I _will_ marry her. I don't care what father says."

"I think Uncle would rather see you dead then see you happily married to a common washer woman." Dom said honestly.  
"Well, I think it's romantic." Eames joined in. The roguish cousin who had come for an extended visit from England was happy to be apart of this scandal. He had hated how slow everything moved in the country and complained loudly that he wanted to go home to England. The only diversion had been his help in keeping Ada hidden.

"Poor but beautiful girl meets rich, stick in the mud, boy." He continued. Arthur glared at the cousin he didn't care for.  
"They fall in love, despite his families expectation of him and he is tragically killed by his overbearing father. Heartbroken girl is comforted by boy's cousin with a charming accent. They run off together. Lovely story." He finished giving Arthur a smile.

~ Dinner was still an hour away and Arthur went to speak to his father in his study. Behind a desk made for a king, sat Lord Blunt. He was a formidable older man who was still mired in the traditions and old ways of his father and grandfather. His heart as black as the stones that had built Blackwood Castle.

"I don't wish to see you until you agree to marry Miss Sonnet. She is my business partner's daughter and very well off. You have rejected every woman your mother and I have sent to you." The old man said starting in on the same speech he gave to Arthur every time he saw him.

Arthur felt his courage falter. What was it about this old domineering man that made him so weak and cowardly? The only time he had been able to stand up to this beast was when he refused to marry a line of ugly, selfish spoiled girls he insisted on allaying him with.

"Father, I intend to marry." Arthur said steeling himself up. The old man looked surprised.

"Well that's good." He said. His voice still angry and judgmental.

"It's not Miss Sonnet. It's not one of the ladies you have approved for me." Arthur said gravely.

"Who is it then?" He father barked.

~ Lord Blunt was in a rage. Like a beast that had been let lose from hell, he stormed out of his study and grabbed a frightened house maid.

"Where is she?" He growled into her scared little face. "The girl my son has been hiding."  
"Father!" Arthur was shouting as the young man came out of the study. His nose bleeding and his lip swollen and cut from a recent beating. "Please, don't do this!"

"The witch, the _whore_! Where is she? I know you have seen her, nothing happens in this castle without the servants seeing it. Tell me!" he barked at the maid.  
"Up... upstairs", by the tower." The girl whimpered as Lord Blunt jerked her onto the floor and charged up the stairs.

~ Ada was alone in her little room when Lord Blunt found her. He didn't bother to knock, only kicked the door in. The old man was quick to bar the door so his son could not get in. Before she could stand to face the wrath of the Beast, his large hands were around her delicate, pale throat.

"Dishonor my family?" He growled. "Cast your wicked spell on my house? On my legacy?"

The old man's face was in a rage as he pulled Ada to the floor. His hands were impossibly strong and she could feel the air leaving her body.

~ Arthur reached the fifth floor just as his father shut the door to Ada's room and locked it. Try as hard as he could, he couldn't open it. He could hear his beloved's screams from outside as the Beast was growling and shouting at her.

"Ada!" Arthur shouted in impotent furry as he beat on the heavy oak door.

"Arthur, what's happening?" Dom asked as his two cousins came to see that all the noise was about.  
"Ada!" Arthur shouted. "He's in there with her!" Arthur said to them as the three young men tried to break down the door.

Ada wasn't screaming anymore.

~ When Lord Blake opened the door, she lay on the floor. Her neck broken, her eyes glassy and vacant. She had been beaten and murdered by the hands of the Beast.

"What have you done?" Arthur gasped as he ran into the room. He gently picked up his beloved and held her lifeless body close to him. Hoping he could somehow restore her life with his presence.

"Ada?" He called softly to her as he brushed back her dark hair.  
"Ada... please." He begged.

**Present day...**

~ Arthur looked at the girl who used to look like Ariadne. So many years had passed he could scarcely believe his eyes as she transformed herself into his beloved. Into his Ada.

"Ada?" He whispered fearfully.

Her features were still that strange frightening beauty he had remembered. A face the villages thought too perfect to be anything but evil.

"I came back." Ada whispered.  
"Ada." Arthur whispered as she ran a hand over his cheek. Her long fingers going to his hair like she had so long ago.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for what happened to you." He breathed not able to take his eyes off her.

"I know." She said. Her voice strange and ghost like. Everything about Ariadne was gone. Replaced by this long dead girl.  
"I came back, for you." She whispered in that strange voice. "You found me in the woods, just like before. You sent me away. But I came back for you. I'll always come back for you, my love."

"You _cursed_ us." He whispered as he drew the strange, phantom girl into his arms. His lips touching hers. Ada's lips and flesh were cold. As cold as the water she had been sent to the night she was murdered.

"My love." She cooed gently. Her voice and lips making him shutter. "It wasn't _I_ who cursed you."


	19. Chapter 19

19.

**1845...**

~ "You boys take this whore, and wrap her in chains. Toss her in the ocean." Lord Blunt barked at Dom and Eames as they stood looking shocked over Arthur holding the dead girl.

"Sir?" Dom asked a little worried.

"You do it! We will not speak of my son's indiscretion again. It's over." He growled.

Lord Blunt stormed out of the little room, leaving his heartbroken son holding his beloved's body.  
"Arthur?" Eames whispered. Their cousin looked strange. His face was like it have been carved of stone. A shadow crossing his eyes that made them afraid.  
"Do what he says." Arthur said numbly to his cousins. His voice taking on a coldness as he ran his fingers through her pitch black hair. "Take one of the boats and wrap her in chains from the stables. Put her in the water. Put her in the ocean."

~ A serving maid was in the kitchen finishing the last preparations for dinner when Arthur stormed in.

"Wait outside." He barked at her. His voice holding all the power and bitterness of Lord Blunt. The frightened maid gave the Heir a little curtsey and did what he said. She scurried out of the kitchen and left him alone.

Arthur rummaged in the cabinets until he found what he was looking for.

Well he remembered the lecture the old cook had given him when had first found this bottle as a boy. Thinking it was sugar he had tried to eat it. The motherly old lady slapping him hard and making him cry.  
"No! That's poison! If it will kill the rats, it will kill you!" She had paddled him for even going near it. The mother in the old woman knowing it was the only way to make a child fear things. Then she had wiped his tears and told him she was sorry and gave him a cookie. She said it would break her heart if he ate that bad stuff and he never touched it again.

With a spoon, he dug into the white, sugar like, rat poison and stirred it into the wine that would be served at dinner. Everyone at the party would drink wine tonight. Eames' parent's, Dom's brother's and sisters. Even his own parent's and sisters. A total of fifteen people would share wine from the crystal canter.

He wasn't sure why his wrath had extended to the whole family. His mother hadn't murdered his beloved. But the family was like a curse. They were like a cross he could no longer bare. They allowed the old Lord to do whatever he wanted and Arthur sought revenge.

The poison melted in the swirl of dark red wine as Arthur stirred it and replaced the top. He stormed out of the kitchen as the frightened kitchen maid curtseyed at him.

~ Hours later, Dom and Eames arrived back at Blackwood. They had sank Ada's body into the dark sea from a small boat. It had been a gruesome, haunting chore that both men swore to never speak of again.

"The summer can't end fast enough." Eames said to his cousin. "No offense, but this family is a bit too mad for my taste."

~ They walked into the formal dinning room to see Arthur sitting at the other head of the table. His posture relaxed as he drank only water. The family were dressed in their finery. All of them sitting or laying on the floor. Their skin pale blue, foam at their mouths, their eyes blood shot.

"Arthur?" Dom asked seeing his sister laying on the floor next to a pool of her own vomit.

Their cousin turned to them.  
"Forgot you two were out." He said casually. "I've given the servants the night off." He told him returning his focus to the party of the dead. Lord Blunt had fallen face first into his dinner when he drowned in his own vomit. Arthur smiled at that.

"Arthur, what have you done?" Dome breathed.

~ A storm came in that night. A powerful one that rattled the stained glass windows and made the servants shake in their beds as the acoustics around the castle sounded like a woman was screaming outside. Screams like a woman, filled with rage, was trying to claw her way in.

The surf from the ocean pounded the beach and lighting and thunder struck across the sky in a terrible retribution for the crimes of that night.

~ In the morning, the servants awoke to the family dead around the dinning room table. All of them sitting perfectly before their untouched dinner. A strange and eerie sight as some of the more superstitious staff whispered about the witch the young Heir had hidden in the castle.

The three sons were nowhere to be found as the servants fled. The staff not know that the young men, in reality, had spent the night of the storm cleaning the bodies and positioning them at the table. Looking like they had died suddenly while at dinner. Their bodies still seated and no signs of struggle or pain.

A most bizarre and unnatural thing.

~ The village authorities came and investigated. The three sons telling a tale of that strange girl, Ada, coming to the castle and killing the family with magic before she vanished into the sea.

Rumors about Ada and her dark magic had already made the rounds of the village. It was not hard for the three sons to make the people believe she had killed the Blunt family. Even the doctor overlooked the obvious sighs of poisoning and ruled the strange deaths as unknown, or supernatural.

~ It was a few years before the three sons began to notice things. Arthur had taken a fall off one of his horses while out for a ride. The horse had thrown a stone and plummeted off a cliff. The horse was killed but Arthur had survived without a scratch.

They noticed they no longer got sick or hurt in anyway. They showed no signs of advancing years.

"Perhaps she _was_ a witch." Eames mused in a drunken rage a few years after the storm. "Maybe she _did_ cursed us."

~The servants that fled and never came back after the storm. Rumors ran wild the three sons were cursed. After the sons noticed they were not aging, they had refused to hire more servants and closed off Blackwood castle forever.

~ Arthur had joined the Calvary when the Civil War broke out. Eames went back to London and Dom to New York. In the confusion of war and travel, no one noticed that the three sons were not aging. People minded their own business. Had their own problems. Still the strange story persisted about the castle and it's long dead family.

No one questioned when a handsome young man named Andrew Blunt came back from the war and took up residence in Blackwood. Not hiring any staff and never receiving visitors.

~ As the decades rolled away, they pulled into themselves. Eames married and had children. He watched his wife grow old without him. He watched his children die of war or old age. Dom was likewise fated to watch his friends and lovers fade before his eyes.

The three sons remaining eternally youthful as the world forgot their strange tale of witchcraft and curses.

**Present day...**

~ "It wasn't _I_ who curse you, my love." Ada whispered. Her lips cold on Arthur's cheek.

"I had to." He whispered back. He had never spoken of what had happened during the storm. Never said the words or apologized. "For what he did to you."

"It wasn't for me that you killed them." She said in a haunting voice. "It was for your own vengeance."

Her voice had blended into the wind and her skin had turned a translucent gray.

"I'm sorry, Ada." He whispered as he tried to hold onto her. "I'm so sorry, for everything."

"I tired to convince them, Arthur." She whispered. "Tried to tell them that with time, you could be absolved. That you could be healed of this darkness that lives within you. That you could one day come home and we can be together again. That was why Dom and Eames have been released."  
"Released?" He repeated.

"When you go home tonight, it will be alone. Your cousins will be gone. They have been allowed to cross over with me. Allowed to be with their loved ones again." She whispered in that horrible ghost song.

Her body starting to slip away from his.  
"What.. what about me?" He asked trying to pull her back. His voice desperate and angry.  
"I _tried_ to save you Arthur." She said. "I tried to heal your heart, but you sent me away. You send me away still. You must remain here."

"Ada, No!" He cried out trying to catch the girl he had loved before she faded away.  
"Please!" He screamed as she turned to mist.

"I will come back for you, Arthur." She whispered. "I belong with you, and I will come back."

~ The young Heir sat alone on top of the black waterfall. His heart too heavy to beat properly. He knew he was truly alone now. That whatever black spirit that invaded him the night his beloved died, lived in him still.

A blackness as cold and deep as the stones that created Blackwood Castle.

**~ Okay, after reading your input I decided to make it sad anyway. I fully intend for a happy ending. Maybe beauty and the beast thing where her love releases him from the curse, but what kind of bull shit is that?**

** I also thought about having the witch come out of the ocean and killing the family but then I thought it was better that Arthur did it. It seemed more fitting. **

** I'm sorry if this made everyone sad, but that is what romantic goth is. **

**If you like this kind of story, I recomend "The Distant Hours", "We have alwasy lived in the Castle", "Jane Erye", Wuthering Heights" and Poe.~**


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